THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


St: 


^"L — .T'Ov.1" 


:  'C-.v  - 


^  v.  i.  h. 


-'/ 

-^ 

.- ; 


In  JMemoriam. 


jfames  Overtoil  Broadbcad. 


august  7,  1898. 


-5/4- 


CONTENTS. 

INTRODUCTION             ._„•''.  3 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  ST.  Louis  BAR          .  5 

ADJOURNED  MEETING            ...  6 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  ST.  Louis  BAR              ;           .  7 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  MEMORIAL  MEETING  IN 

PIKE  COUNTY               ....  19 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  FAGG          ....  20 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  PIKE  COUNTY  MEETING               .  -  28 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  KENT         ....  29 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CAMPBELL                          .            .  57 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HAGERMAN            .            .            .  59 

RESPONSE  OF  JUDGE  ADAMS              .            .            .  70 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  FINKELNBURG       .                        .  73 

RESPONSE  OF  JUDGE  THAYER           .            .            .  76 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HITCHCOCK            ...  79 

RESPONSE  OF  CHIEF  JUSTICE  GANTT           .            .  85 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  KRUM         ....  87 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  LOYAL  LEGION              .            .  91 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  SOCIETY        .   .         .  97 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  AMERICAN  BAR  ASSOCIATION  101 


550172 


INTRODUCTION. 

N  presenting  this  publication  to  those  by  whose  generosity 
it  is  made,  and  who  have  assigned  to  us  the  labor,  which 
is  one  of  love  in  editing  it,  we  feel  that  a  word  of  explanation 
is  necessary. 

We  have  not  thought  it  wise  to  preface  this  Memorial 
volume  with  a  biographical  sketch  of  Colonel  Broadhead,  since 
the  various  addresses  and  resolutions  which  it  contains  tell 
the  whole  story  of  his  life.  Its  purpose  is  to  preserve  in  some 
enduring  shape  a  record  of  what  has  been  said  and  done  as  a 
precious  treasure  for  those  who  knew  the  man,  and  as  a  legacy 
for  those  who  are  to  come  after  us. 

Repetitions  of  the  same  sentiment  and  of  comment  upon 
the  same  qualities  will  be  found  in  many  of  these  proceedings ; 
this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  person  of  such  marked 
individuality  that  no  one  could  speak  or  write  of  him  and  leave 
unmentioned  his  striking  characteristics.  The  many  traits 
that  distinguished  his  professional  and  public  life  were  supple- 
mented by  a  simplicity  of  character  that  gave  a  charm  to  his 
personality,  whilst — 

"Affection,  kindness  and  the  sweet  offices 
Of  love  and  duty  were  to  him  as  needful. 
As  his  daily  bread." 

Fortunate  those  who  were  associated  with  his  professional 
and  public  life  and  enjoyed  his  personal  friendship  ! 
"Beate  vixisse  videar,  quia  cum  Scipione  wxertm." 

HENRY  T.  KENT. 
JAMES  L,.  BLAIR. 
ST.  Louis,  March  15th,  1899. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  BAR. 

LJ  MEETING  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar,  in  honor  of  the  memory 
'  of  the  Hon.  James  O.  Broadhead,  was  held  at  Court 
Room  No.  4,  of  the  St.  Louis  Circuit  Court,  on  August  9, 
1898,  to  take  appropriate  action  upon  his  death. 

On  motion  of  Truman  A.  Post,  Esq.,  Col.  D.  P.  Dyer  was 
chosen  chairman  and  Heber  W.  Adams  as  secretary. 

Col.  Dyer  delivered  a  feeling  and  eloquent  address  cover- 
ing a  period  of  forty  years,  during  which  he  had  known  Col. 
Broadhead. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Henry  T.  Kent,  the  chairman  appointed 
a  committee  of  nine  to  draft  fitting  resolutions.  The  com- 
mittee was  composed  of  Henry  T.  Kent,  Truman  A.  Post, 
Fred  W.  Lehmann,  James  L,.  Blair,  John  W.  Noble,  Herman 
A.  Haeussler,  John  H.  Overall,  Amos  R.  Taylor  and  Malvin 
L.  Gray. 

In  view  of  Col.  Broadhead 's  career  at  the  bar  and  in 
public  life,  the  committee  asked  for  time  to  prepare  an 
appropriate  memorial,  which  was  granted. 


LjT  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar,  held  in 
'•^  Court  Room  No.  4,  on  Saturday,  November  12,  1898, 
for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  report  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  prepare  suitable  resolutions  on  the  death  of  Col. 
James  O.  Broadhead,  the  committee  reported  that  their  mem- 
orial had  been  prepared  by  Mr.  James  L-  Blair,  one  of  its 
members,  and  was  ready  for  presentation  ;  at  the  request  of 
the  Chairman,  Mr.  Blair  then  read  the  following  memorial : 


MEMORIAL 

OF 

JAMES  OVERTON  BROADHEAD. 

YOUR  committee  conceives  it  to  be  its  duty  to  incorporate 
in  this  memorial  some  of  the  principal  events  of  the  life 
of  our  distinguished  brother  as  a  fitting,  and  indeed  a 
necessary  preliminary  to  a  just  estimate  and  expression  of  the 
worth  of  one  who  has  stood  so  high  in  our  profession,  and  in 
the  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

Born  at  Charlottesville,  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  on 
the  29th  day  of  May,  1819,  Col.  Broadhead  had  just  com- 
pleted his  seventy-ninth  year  when,  on  the  7th  day  of  August, 
1898,  after  a  long  illness,  he  departed  this  life.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  after  a  year  spent  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  he 
removed  to  Pike  County,  Missouri,  where  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  the  year  1842.  In  1845  he  was  a  delegate  to  the 
State  Constitutional  Convention  ;  in  1847  a  member  of  the 
State  House  of  Representatives  from  Pike  County,  a  State 
Senator  in  1851,  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in 
St.  Louis  in  1861,  and  in  the  same  year  a  delegate  to  the  State 
Convention  which  assembled  to  determine  upon  the  course  of 
the  State  on  the  issue  of  union  or  secession.  Appointed  to 
be  District  Attorney  of  the  United  States  during  this  year  he 


soon  resigned  his  office  in  order  to  discharge  more  pressing 
public  duties  growing  out  of  the  exigencies  of  the  war.  In 
1863  he  was  commissioned  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  Volunteers, 
by  President  Lincoln,  and  immediately  appointed  Provost 
Marshal  General  of  the  Military  Department  of  Missouri. 

Elected  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1875,  he  labored  incessantly  in  the  formation  of  the  constitu- 
tion adopted  in  that  year.  He  was  retained  as  special  counsel 
for  the  government  in  the  famous  "Whisky  Ring"  cases  in 
St.  Louis  in  1876,  and  in  1878  was  made  president  of  the 
American  Bar  Association.  In  the  year  1882  he  was  elected 
to  Congress  and  served  with  distinction  on  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  during  his  term,  declining  a  renomination. 
President  Cleveland,  in  1885,  appointed  him  Special  Commis- 
sioner to  make  examination  with  reference  to  the  "  French 
Spoliation  Claims,"  in  pursuance  of  which  duty  he  spent 
several  months  in  France,  examining  the  government  archives 
and  upon  his  report  Congress  took  the  first  action  toward 
making  provision  for  the  payment  to  the  descendants  of  those 
whose  claims  had  been  ignored  for  nearly  a  century.  Soon 
after  the  completion  of  this  duty,  he  was  appointed  Minister  to 
Switzerland,  which  office  he  held  until  about  twro  years  before 
his  death. 

In  1859  he  came  to  St.  Louis  where  he  formed  a  law 
partnership  with  the  late  Fidelio  C.  Sharp,  which  continued 
till  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1875.  Subsequently  he  was 
associated  with  John  H.  Overall,  W.  F.  Broadhead,  A.  W. 
Slayback,  Herman  A.  Haeusslerand  C.  S.  Broadhead  ;  with  the 
last  two  his  association  continued  until  the  time  of  his  death. 

From  almost  the  day  of  his  admission  to  the  bar  in  1842, 
with  the  exception  of  the  brief  intervals  caused  by  his  absences 
abroad,  he  was  continuously  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the 


law,  and  was  concerned  in  much  of  the  great  litigation  of  this 
city  and  State,  as  well  as  in  many  important  controversies  in 
the  Federal  Supreme  Court. 

It  appears  from  this  outline  that  both  the  public  and 
professional  careers  of  Colonel  Broadhead  were  unusually  long 
and  active,  touching  great  affairs  and  intimately  connected 
with  some  of  the  most  momentous  crises  in  the  history  of  our 
State  and  national  government.  The  least  that  can  be  said  of 
him  is  that  he  was  fully  adequate  to  every  occasion,  however 
trying,  and  that  in  many  of  his  forensic  efforts  and  public 
acts  he  was  conspicuously  great. 

In  analyzing  the  careers  of  men  we  are  oftentimes  con- 
fronted by  anomalous  and  seemingly  contradictory  results. 
In  some  we  find  talents  and  energy  in  combination,  such  as 
would  ordinarily  assure  success,  followed  by  failure.  In  others 
we  find  mediocre  ability  rewarded  by  the  highest  distinction  ; 
and  we  -are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  "  itinerary 
of  the  road  to  fame  ; ' '  her  mantle  falls  upon  those  who 
possess  that  assemblage  of  faculties,  not  one  of  which  need 
necessarily  be  great,  so  adapted  to  environment  that,  working 
in  harmony,  they  together  secure  the  prize  for  which  we  all 
strive.  There  is,  however,  one  quality  whose  presence  insures, 
and  whose  absence  makes  impossible,  true  greatness,  and  that 
is  character.  In  scrutinizing  the  career  of  our  friend  we  find 
that  while  gifted  with  many  intellectual  qualities  above  the 
average  of  men,  this  one  salient  element  stands  out  foremost 
in  his  composition.  In  his  integrity,  firm  as  the  very  founda- 
tions of  truth,  he  was  without  "variableness  nor  shadow  of 
turning."  In  a  public  address  he  once  used  these  words  : 
"No  man  without  an  upright  mind,  and  no  man  who  has  not 
preserved  his  integrity,  has  ever  died  leaving  the  reputation 
of  a  great  lawyer. ' ' 


To  this  standard  his  whole  life  was  adjusted  and  the 
reputation  he  leaves  perfectly  illustrates  the  truth  of  his 
maxim. 

In  the  profession  of  the  law  Colonel  Broadhead  stood 
easily  in  the  front  rank,  not  only  in  this  State,  but  in  the 
nation  ;  indeed,  of  all  our  State  bar,  he  probably  enjoyed  the 
widest  national  reputation,  for  his  public  career  served  to 
attract  attention  to  his  notable  ability  as  a  lawyer,  as  is 
shown  by  his  constant  employment  in  cases  of  great  magni- 
tude, in  the  Federal  Courts,  arising  outside  of  the  State.  His 
legal  education  was  thorough,  and,  notwithstanding  his  active 
participation  in  public  affairs,  his  studies  were  never  inter- 
mitted. The  character  of  his  mind  was  such,  that  it  seemed 
to  be  able  to  select  the  salient  points  of  a  controversy  or  a 
reported  case,  to  eliminate  the  immaterial  and  to  concentrate 
upon  the  main  issue.  In  the  trial  of  causes  he  gave  little 
attention  to  what  might  be  called  the  minutiae  of  preparation. 
He  seemed  to  care  but  little  for  memoranda,  for  the  orderly 
arrangement  of  papers  and  all  that  multitude  of  details  which 
occupy  so  much  of  the  attention  of  the  ordinary  practitioner. 
He  seemed  to  the  casual  observer  to  be  rather  neglectful  in 
these  matters,  but  when  the  trial  was  on  he  was  never  found 
unprepared.  Somewhat  slow  in  his  movements  he  gave  the 
impression  of  not  being  alert  in  his  mental  processes  ;  but  no 
man  who  met  him  in  a  professional  contest  ever  finished  it 
without  being  profoundly  impressed  with  his  acuteness  of 
perception,  his  unfailing  readiness  and  his  extraordinary 
resourcefulness.  His  mind  was  cast  in  a  mould  which  discards 
those  mere  technicalities  that  distinguish  the  legal  mechanic 
from  the  great  lawyer.  It  possessed  that  clear  discernment 
which  classified  the  issues  according  to  the  underlying  princi- 
ples of  right  and  justice,  and  which,  with  the  aid  of  a  memory 


singularly  tenacious  and  accurate,  enabled  him  in  a  time 
inconceivably  short,  to  harmonize  principle  with  precedent  in 
the  construction  of  arguments,  persuasive,  logical,  conclusive. 
It  seemed  to  one  opposed  to  him  for  the  first  time  that  his 
indifference  made  him  an  easy  antagonist,  but  no  man  ever 
emerged  from  such  a  controversy  without  feeling  that  upon 
every  important  point  Col.  Broadhead  was  fully  prepared  and 
able  to  support  his  position  with  the  clearest  application  of 
established  principle,  coupled  with  every  precedent  which  the 
history  of  the  law  could  supply. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Col.  Broadhead  was  versatile  in 
the  law  ;  he  had  not  in  such  marked  degree  as  some  other 
great  lawyers  the  faculty  of  special  fitness  in  numerous 
departments  of  the  practice  ;  yet  in  no  branch  of  the  law, 
however  different  from  those  which  he  specially  preferred,  did 
he  ever  show  unfitness.  The  intellectual  superiority  which 
made  him  great  in  some,  negatived  the  possibility  of  weakness 
in  any.  His  preference  and  the  trend  of  his  mental  activity 
was  in  the  direction  of  the  more  profound  legal  questions 
such  as  constitutional  law.  His  familiarity  with  the  history 
of  jurisprudence  and  the  philosophy  which  underlies  and 
permeates  that  greatest  of  all  sciences,  specially  qualified 
him  for  the  solution  of  those  broader  questions  involved 
in  the  construction  of  the  written  charters  of  the  States 
and  the  nation.  In  the  famous  case  of  the  late  corporation  of 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  these  qualities 
appeared  in  special  prominence.  In  this  case  he  held  a  brief 
for  the  Mormon  Church,  which  was  contending  against  the 
attempt  of  the  United  States  to  invade  the  property  rights  of 
a  religious  corporation  by  escheating  its  lands  to  the  govern- 
ment. His  argument  in  this  case  rises  to  heights  rarely 
equalled  in  the  profession  and  stamps  him  as  a  constitutional 


lawyer  of  surpassing  ability.  An  incident  which  ocurred  in 
the  argument  of  that  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  illustrates  both  the  power  of  his  argument  and 
the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  that  tribunal.  In  the 
course  of  the  argument  this  colloquy  occuired  :  The  Court : 
' '  Conceding  that  that  part  of  the  statute  is  valid  which 
declares  this  corporation  called  '  The  Church  of  Latter  Day 
Saints'  is  dissolved,  what  do  you  say  becomes  of  it?"  Mr. 
Broadhead :  ' '  That  is  the  question  I  am  undertaking  to 
discuss."  The  Court:  "You  are  stating  these  leading 
authorities.  I  would  like  to  know  what  your  view  is  ;  where 
you  are  coming  to  ?  What  do  you  say  ?  ' ' 

We  believe  there  can  be  no  highei  encomium  given  to  a 
member  of  our  profession  than  that  the  highest  court  of  the 
land,  in  a  case  involving  so  great  a  question,  should  place  itself 
upon  record  as  desiring,  in  addition  to  leading  authorities,  the 
individual  opinion  of  counsel  on  the  vital  issue  of  the  case. 

In  the  famous  ' '  Express  ' '  cases  the  question  involved  was 
one  as  to  the  obligation  of  common  carriers.  The  issues  were 
most  important  and  far  reaching  in  their  scope  ;  the  controversy 
bitter.  Amongst  his  opponents  were  such  men  as  Senator 
Edmunds,  Mr.  Seward  and  Ex -Justice  Campbell,  but  in  the 
final  hearing  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
which  was  concluded  by  Col.  Broadhead  in  an  argument  of 
nearly  two  days'  duration,  he  exhibited  a  grasp  of  the  issues, 
a  convincing  power  which  carried  the  day  and  added  another 
to  his  long  list  of  forensic  successes.  It  was  his  own  opinion 
and  that  of  many  others  that,  considering  the  commanding 
ability  of  his  adversaries,  and  the  fact  that  several  members  of 
the  court  had  on  the  circuit  expressed  views  opposed  to  his 
contention,  his  victory  in  this  case  was  the  greatest  triumph  of 
his  professional  life. 


It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  much  of  his  professional 
success  was  due  to  the  fact  that  every  tribunal  before  which 
he  appeared  became  immediately  impressed  with  his  perfect 
candor  and  honesty.  His  face,  his  manner,  his  whole  bearing 
throughout  the  case  carried  a  conviction  of  his  single  minded 
purpose  to  present  the  issues  with  absolute  fairness  ;  that  he 
came  before  the  court  with  profound  convictions  and  with  the 
intention  of  performing  the  most  exalted  function  of  the  lawyer 
by  aiding  the  court  in  sifting  out  the  very  truth  and  justice  of 
the  matter  in  dispute. 

The  public  career  of  Col.  Broadhead  was  characterized 
throughout  by  the  highest  qualities  of  patriotic  citizenship. 
He  came  of  a  stock  which  had  borne  arms  in  defense  of  liberty 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  he 
imbibed  in  his  youth  and  early  manhood  the  spirit  which  actu- 
ated the  fathers  of  the  Republic.  While  too  young  to  have 
had  any  personal  intercourse  with  Jefferson,  he  was  reared 
in  a  locality  where  the  best  qualities  of  that  great  man  had 
impressed  themselves  upon  the  thought  and  conduct  of  all 
those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  grew  to  manhood 
in  an  atmosphere  created  by  eminent  statesmen  and  permeated 
by  a  love  of  country,  a  patriotic  devotion  to  public  duty,  and  a 
full  recognition  of  the  obligation  which  rests  upon  the  citizen 
to  give  his  services  for  the  public  good.  His  personal  acquaint- 
ance and  relations  with  Mr.  Madison  served  to  foster  still  further 
these  virtues,  and  thus  one  of  the  most  prominent  characteristics 
of  his  life  was  the  unquestioned  readiness  with  which  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  solution  of  every  public  question  of  magnitude, 
and  the  intrepid  courage  with  which  he  labored  throughout 
his  whole  life  for  the  right,  as  he  conceived  it,  at  whatever  cost 
to  himself.  In  the  great  national  crisis  of  1861  he  was  eminent 
in  his  strenuous  advocacy  of  the  Union  at  any  cost. 


His  argument  before  the  convention  which  met  in  this 
city  in  1861,  in  support  of  the  right  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  call  out  the  State  militia  for  the  purpose  of  suppress- 
ing insurrection,  was  as  able  as  it  was  courageous,  and  his 
administration  of  the  difficult  and  delicate  duties  of  Provost 
Marshal  was  marked  by  a  fidelity  to  duty,  and  yet  a  kindliness 
which  signalized  the  patriotism  of  the  citizen  while  it  gave 
earnest  of  the  gentleness  of  his  nature  ;  so  that  whilst  perform- 
ing a  task  under  circumstances  where  harshness  was  almost  a 
necessity,  he  retained  the  affectionate  regard  of  those  against 
whom  he  was  obliged  to  enforce  the  severe  penalties  imposed 
by  the  Federal  Government.  His  services  in  the  State  Con- 
vention which  established  the  provisional  government  in  1861, 
were  notable.  The  situation  was  most  difficult.  The  State 
government  was  in  confusion  ;  the  people  were  divided  in 
sentiment  and  sympathy  on  the  great  question  of  the  day  ; 
intense  bitterness,  partisan  rancor  and  violence  were  uni- 
versal. With  a  great  patience,  an  unwearying  tolerance  of 
the  opinions  of  others,  and  with  an  eye  single  to  the  patriotic 
purpose  of  preserving  the  Union,  he  labored  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  giving  unsparingly  of  his  time,  his  talents  and  his 
means  till  at  length  order  succeeded  anarchy  and  perfect 
success  rewarded  his  devotion. 

The  war  being  over  he  was  one  of  those  who  believed  that 
amnesty  was  not  a  mere  word  ;  he  threw  away  the  sword  and 
strove  mightily  to  restore  to  his  former  adversaries  the  civil 
rights  and  privileges  of  which  partisan  bitterness  had  deprived 
them. 

In  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  as  a  member  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  he  gave  to  National  Legislation  the  same  able  and 
conscientious  service  which  was  the  habit  of  his  life.  He 
impressed  himself  upon  his  associates  as  a  man  devoid  of  any 


purpose  save  that  only  of  an  upright,  zealous  discharge  of 
duty.  In  great  measure  he  contributed  to  the  correct  solution 
of  the  weighty  questions  which  came  before  that  body. 

In  the  Constitutional  Conventions  of  1845  and  1875  Col. 
Broadhead's  talents  were  of  great  value.  As  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  organic  law  lay  his  greatest  power,  so  in  the  creation 
of  those  great  charters  his  special  ability  shone  forth.  In  the 
grave  questions  which  came  before  those  conventions  his  voice 
was  ever  for  conservatism  and  the  strictest  application  of  the 
great  principles  which  underlie  our  form  of  government  ;  and 
his  arguments  were  replete  with  illustrations  drawn  from  the 
wise  utterances  of  the  founders  of  the  nation  when  they  passed 
through  that  unknown  and  troubled  sea  which -lay  between 
them  and  the  institution  of  our  Republic.  The  spirit  of  fairness 
which  ever  pervaded  his  mind  and  his  devotion  to  the  interests 
of  the  State  of  his  adoption,  aided  in  great  measure,  if  it  did 
not  control,  the  limitations  imposed  by  those  instruments  on 
the  aggressions  of  corporate  interests  against  the  rights  of  the 
people,  and  the  unwise  and  illiberal  efforts  of  those  who  would 
have  impeded  the  progress  of  the  State  by  enactments  restricting 
the  rewards  which  are  justly  due  to  capital  honestly  invested. 
His  breadth  of  view,  his  full  comprehension  of  the  operation 
of  economic  laws,  his  thorough  understanding  of  the  genius 
of  the  people,  their  needs,  their  weakness  and  their  strength, 
his  candor,  his  known  integrity  and  his  high  professional 
standing  gave  him  a  weight  in  these  councils  and  a  power 
for  good  which  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  this 
State. 

His  last  appearance  in  political  life  was  in  the  memorable 
campaign  of  1896.  Though  it  pained  him  deeply  to  sever  his 
connection  with  his  old  political  associates,  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  follow  his  convictions  and  identify  himself  with  the  National 


Democratic  party,  in  whose  convention  at  Indianapolis  he  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  figures.  Whilst  some  may  not 
agree  with  his  conclusions,  his  disinterested  advocacy  of  what 
he  believed  to  be  right  must  challenge  the  admiration  of  all. 
The  personal  characteristics  of  Col.  Broadhead  were  such 
as  to  merit  special  notice.  There  was  in  him  a  simplicity, 
an  utter  absence  of  guile  such  as  is  rarely  seen  in  one  whose 
life  has  been  spent  in  legal  and  public  controversies,  and  who 
has  been  in  touch  with  affairs  so  many  and  so  varied.  With  a 
noble  disdain  of  the  meannesses  of  life,  he  combined  a  tolerance 
of  the  errors  and  weaknesses  of  others  which  made  him  a  con- 
stant target  for  the  designing  and  an  ever  ready  help  to  the 
unfortunate.  It  seemed  impossible  for  him  to  deny  any 
appeal  from  the  distressed,  irrespective  of  the  merit  of  the 
application.  Indifferent  to  the  glitter  of  wealth  and  the 
allurements  of  power,  he  gave  freely,  too  freely,  indeed,  of 
his  earnings,  and  died  comparatively  a  poor  man.  Ostentation 
was  impossible  to  him,  and  his  modest  appreciation  of  his  own 
ability,  his  repugnance  to  asserting  any  claim  for  reward  for 
his  own  public  services,  were  notable  qualities  of  the  man  in  a 
day  when  the  rule  is  so  conspicuously  otherwise.  Though 
undemonstrative  in  manner,  any  man  who  had  ever  known 
him  carried  throughout  life  affectionate  remembrances  either 
of  some  kindness  done  or  some  assurance,  which  needed  no 
spoken  word,  that  no  appeal  to  him  would  ever  go  unanswered. 
His  controversies  engendered  no  rancor  ;  the  elevation  of  his 
character  and  his  unquestioned  sincerity  carried  assurance  to 
every  opponent,  however  sharp  the  contest,  that  the  man  had 
no  quarrel  save  with  wrong,  that  the  battle  was  one  of  intellect 
and  wholly  above  the  plane  of  personal  animosity.  He 
accepted  his  defeats,  which  were  few,  with  an  equal  mind, 
and  with  the  feeling  that  the  tribunal  which  decided  against 


him  might  have  erred  in  judgment,  but  was  incapable  of  wrong 
doing  ;  and  he  bore  his  triumphs,  which  were  many,  without 
undue  elation  and  in  such  spirit  of  modesty  and  with  such  kindly 
consideration  as  left  no  sting  in  the  bosom  of  his  adversary. 

Col.  Broadhead  possessed  a  rare  and  discriminating  taste 
in  literature  and  his  mind  was  stored  with  the  beauties  of  the 
English  classics.  His  legal  arguments  and  public  addresses 
are  full  of  evidences  of  this  ;  for  whilst  the  chief  merits  of  his 
style  are  simplicity  and  perspicuousness,  the  irresistible  elo- 
quence of  facts,  yet  it  abounds  with  illustrations  of  a  high 
order  of  literary  learning  and  skill. 

It  is  impossible  to  sum  up  in  a  few  words  a  character  and 
career  such  as  this.  If  we  say  that  his  nature  was  at  once 
simple,  sincere,  dignified,  noble  and  lovable  ;  that  as  a  lawyer 
he  deservedly  ranked  as  high  as  any  at  the  bar  of  this  State, 
possessed  of  some  qualities  excelling  any  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  of  a  professional  stature  surpassed  by  few  in  the  nation  ; 
that  as  a  public  man  he  was  a  polemic  and  a  statesman  of  the 
foremost  order  ;  and  that  as  a  citizen  he  was  one  of  the  purest 
patriots  in  our  history,  we  should  still  fall  short  of  complete- 
ness ;  for  there  was  that  about  him  which  cannot  be  pictured 
in  words  ;  an  indefinable  personal  quality  which  affected  all 
who  knew  him  with  unbounded  confidence  in  his  character 
and  capacity  and  united  him  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact  with  ties  of  enduring  affection  and  esteem.  And  to 
this  must  be  added  that  he  was  of  a  type,  now  unfortunately 
too  rare,  which  realizes  the  highest  duty  of  our  profession  ;  the 
type  which  accepts  and  executes  the  trusts  imposed  upon  the 
lawyer  by  the  requirements  of  civilization  : — that  he  shall 
frame  the  organic  law  of  the  land,  aid  in  its  administration, 
treasure  the  wise  precedents  of  the  past  for  guidance  in  the 
future,  evolve  and  shape  the  polity  of  the  Republic,  and  give 


freely  of  his  time  and  his  skill  to  the  conservation  of  her 
institutions  ;  the  type  of  Hamilton,  Henry,  Marshall  ;  the 
men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the 
emulation  of  whose  virtues  will  alone  perpetuate  her  greatness! 

HENRY  T.  KENT,  Chairman. 
JAMES  L,.  BLAIR, 
JOHN  W.  NOBLE, 
MELVIN  L.  GRAY, 
FREDERICK  W.  L/EHMANN, 
HERMAN  A.  HAEUSSLER, 
TRUMAN  A.  POST, 
JOHN  H.  OVERALL, 
AMOS  R.  TAYLOR. 


On  motion  of  Mr.  Hitchcock,  the  memorial  as  presented 
was  adopted  by  the  bar. 

On  motion  the  chair  appointed  Hon.  G.  A.  Finkelnburg 
to  present  the  memorial  to  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of 
Appeals,  the  Hon.  James  Hageman  to  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court,  Hon.  Henry  Hitchcock  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Mis- 
souri, Given  Campbell  to  the  Missouri  Court  of  Appeals,  and 
Judge  Chester  H.  Krum  to  the  St.  Louis  Circuit  Courts. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned. 


\s 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF 

MEMORIAL  MEETING  IN  PIKE  COUNTY, 
MISSOURI. 


R  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  BAR  and  prominent  citizens 
of  Pike  County  called  a  public  meeting,  to  be  held  at 
Bowling  Green  at  the  opening  of  the  Circuit  Court,  on 
Monday,  November  28,  1898,  to  take  appropriate  action  upon 
the  death  of  the  Hon.  James  O.  Broadhead. 

The  meeting  was  largely  attended  and  it  was  said  by  old 
residents  that  no  such  representative  gathering  had  ever  been 
seen  in  the  county.  The  deep  feeling  that  pervaded  the  court 
room  and  the  moist  eyes  gave  convincing  evidence  of  how  dear 
the  memory  of  Col.  Broadhead  was  to  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  the  county  in  which  he  began  his  professional  and  public 
careers  amongst  whom  he  lived  for  so  many  years. 

The  Hon.  David  A.  Ball  called  the  meeting  to  order,  and 
nominated  Hon.  T.  J.  C.  Fagg  for  chairman.  In  addition  to 
the  proceedings  printed  below,  Ex-Governor  R.  A.  Campbell 
and  Colonel  Rufus  E.  Anderson,  made  feeling  and  eloquent 
addresses  which  have  not  been  furnished  the  committee  and 
unfortunately  do  not  appear. 

In  assuming  the  chair,  Judge  Fagg  spoke  as  follows : 


JUDGE  FAGG'S  ADDRESS. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — 

It  will  not  be  deemed  out  of  place,  I  hope,  for  me  to  give 
from  personal  recollection  some  of  the  incidents  connected  with 
the  life  of  Col.  Broadhead,  while  he  was  a  citizen  of  Pike 
County. 

He  was  born  and  reared  on  a  farm  near  Charlottesville, 
Albemarle  County,  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  His  birthplace 
was  in  that  beautiful  Piedmont  country  that  is  overlooked  by 
Monticello,  the  famous  mountain  home  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
The  sunlight  of  Heaven  has  never  fallen  upon  a  spot  more 
favored  in  soil,  climate  and  population  than  this. 

From  the  front  door  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  mansion  there  is  an 
uninterrupted  view  almost  to  the  shore  of  the  Atlantic  ocean. 
A  short  distance  to  the  westward  is  the  imposing  chain  of 
mountains  called  the  Blue  Ridge.  Highly  cultivated  farms 
and  stately  mansions  are  scattered  over  the  broad  plateau  at  its 
base,  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  founded  by  Mr.  Jefferson, 
and  the  "child  of  his  love,"  stands  in  full  view  near  the  town 
of  Charlottesville. 

For  the  period  of  time  extending  back  almost  to  colonial 
days,  the  region  covered  by  this  view  has  boasted  of  a  popula- 
tion celebrated  for  intellectual  culture  and  refinement  and  for 
homes  in  which  the  warmest  and  most  cordial  hospitality  have 
always  been  dispensed.  Such  were  the  surroundings  and 
associations  of  my  friend's  boyhood  days. 

I  came  to  this  county  in  1836,  but  he  did  not  reach  the 
State  for  three  or  four  years  afterwards.  Close  neighbors  as 
we  had  been  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  however,  I  never  saw  him 
until  we  met  in  the  town  of  Bowling  Green,  in  September  of 
1843.  I  was  then  just  beginning  the  study  of  law,  while  he 

•jo 


for  little  more  than  a  year  had  been  a  resident  of  the  town, 
his  time  being  devoted  chiefly  to  waiting  and  watching  for 
business. 

The  practice  of  law  was  rather  a  small  affair  in  those  days. 
There  were  no  corporations  to  sue  for  damages,  divorces  were 
very  rare,  and  the  chief  business  of  the  courts  consisted  in 
actions  for  the  collections  of  debts,  supplemented  by  a  few  suits 
in  ejectment.  The  young  lawyer  who  was  not  thoroughly 
educated  in  his  profession  or  who  was  unskilled  in  the  art  of 
pleading,  was  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  the  trial  of  causes 
in  court. 

The  old  forms  of  assumpsit,  replevin,  detinue,  trover  and 
case  were  strictly  adhered  to,  and  woe  to  the  novice  who  should 
go  into  court  simply  to  find  that  his  proof  would  not  meet  his 
allegations.  With  a  good  cause  and  the  law  and  justice  clearly 
on  his  side  he  might  nevertheless  be  thrown  out  of  court  on  a 
mere  technicality.  No  man  was  better  armed  and  equipped  to 
meet  these  difficulties  than  my  friend,  Col.  Broadhead. 

He  had  been  thoroughly  educated  and  trained  in.  classic 
schools  and  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  had  the  sage 
counsel  of  and  advice  of  such  lawyers  as  Edward  Bates,  and  he 
became  a  candidate  for  practice  with  the  most  emphatic  endorse- 
ment as  to  his  learning  and  ability,  by  the  most  eminent 
members  of  the  Bar  in  the  State.  These  advantages  gave  him 
a  good  start  in  professional  life  and  he  rapidly  secured  a  prac- 
tice that  his  ability  and  learning  enabled  him  to  retain  during 
his  stay  in  the  county. 

Very  early  in  his  career  he  met  the  same  temptation  that  has 
lured  so  many  men  from  the  straight  line  of  professional  duties 
into  the  vexatious  uncertainties  and  hazards  of  political  life. 

In  1845  he  and  the  Hon.  Ezra  Hunt,  then  Judge  of  the 
Third  Judicial  Circuit  of  Missouri,  were  elected  as  delegates  to 


the  Constitutional  Convention  of  that  year,  from  the  counties 
of  Rails  and  Pike.  This  was  not  exactly  a  political  office,  and 
yet  by  a  sort  of  tacit  understanding  between  the  great  political 
parties — Whig  and  Democratic  —  Judge  Hunt  was  recognized 
as  the  Democratic  candidate  and  Broadhead  the  Whig  candidate. 
The  work  of  that  convention  was  not  approved  by  the  people, 
and  yet  it  had  eminated  from  the  best  and  ablest  men  in  the 
State.  My  friend  Broadhead  had  met  for  the  first  time  the 
best  lawyers  and  most  distinguished  politicians  of  the  State. 
He  and  I  were  partners  at  that  time  in  the  practice  of  law,  and 
I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  that  was  made  upon  him  by 
his  contact  with  these  men.  To  him  the  routine  of  professional 
life  became  dull  and  unattractive.  The  field  of  politics  was 
broader  and  more  inviting  and  the  opportunities  for  distinction 
greater  in  number. 

In  the  spring  of  1846  he  moved  from  Bowling  Green  to 
Louisiana  and  opened  a  law  office  in  that  town.  Soon  after- 
wards he  became  the  candidate  of  the  Whig  party  for  a  seat 
in  the  lower  branch  of  the  Legislature  ;  Pike  Count}'  being  then 
entitled  only  to  one  member.  His  Democratic  opponent  was 
Nicholas  P.  Minor,  who  was  also  a  native  of  Albermarle 
County,  Virginia,  his  birthplace  being  just  outside  the  limits 
of  the  town  of  Charlottesville. 

After  a  most  spirited  contest  Broadhead  was  elected  by  a 
majority  of  sixty  votes.  Up  to  the  year  1840  party  lines  had 
not  been  so  strictly  drawn  as  they  were  afterwards.  There 
had  been  a  very  large  independent  element  in  the  country, 
chiefly  among  a  class  designated  as  ' '  old  settlers. ' '  In  those 
days  the  fate  of  many  a  candidate  depended  upon  the  length  of 
time  he  had  resided  in  the  county.  But  this  was  a  new  era  in 
politics.  In  the  ten  years  preceding,  the  country  had  rapidly 
increased  in  population  and  the  dominion  of  the  '  'old  settler' ' 

23 


was  passing  away.  The  "new  comer"  and  the  young  man 
began  to  realize  that  they  had  some  chance  for  political  prefer- 
ment. I  shall  never  forget  that  contest.  Minor  was  my  personal 
as  well  as  political  friend,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  removal  to 
Louisiana,  Broadhead  was  my  partner,  as  well  as  a  very  warm 
personal  friend.  The  race  was  spirited  and  \vell  contested  from 
beginning  to  end.  Col.  Broadhead  served  his  term  in  the 
Legislature  with  great  credit  to  himself,  and  at  the  end  of  two 
years  determined  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  duties  of 
his  profession.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  removal  in  1859  to  the 
City  of  St.  Louis,  he  was  a  permanent  resident  of  the  town  of 
Bowling  Green. 

The  result  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  which  was  concluded 
by  a  treaty  in  May,  1848,  gave  us  an  immense  addition  of 
territory  extending  from  the  western  boundaries  of  Texas  and 
Arkansas  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 

The  year  1850  witnessed  the  commencement  in  earnest 
of  the  fiercest  and  most  bitter  political  excitement  the  country 
had  ever  known  up  to  that  time.  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss 
any  of  the  questions  connected  with  that  period  farther  than 
to  say  that  they  naturally  grew  out  of  this  large  acquisition 
of  territory,  and  the  immense  amount  of  immigration  that 
was  pouring  into  the  whole  territory  from  the  Missouri  river 
to  the  Pacific  ocean. 

It  was  a  time  that  moved  and  agitated  the  whole  country 
to  the  profoundest  depths.  The  war  with  Mexico,  the  immense 
addition  of  territory  to  the  public  domain ,  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California,  and  the  rapid  influx  of  population  to  that  broad 
extent  of  territory,  had  excited  the  attention  and  interest  of 
the  people  in  every  part  of  the  United  States.  A  time  had 
been  reached  when  all  men  were  politicians  and  no  man  could 
remain  indifferent  to  the  results. 


Broadhead  was  again  a  candidate  for  a  political  office. 
This  time  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  State  Senate,  the  district 
being  composed  of  the  counties  of  Rails  and  Pike.  His  oppo- 
nent was  Capt.  Wm.  O.  Loffland,  who  during  the  Mexican  war 
had  commanded  a  company  raised  partly  in  his  own  county  of 
Rails  and  partly  in  Pike.  His  war  record  and  military  fame, 
however,  could  not  save  him  from  defeat.  Broadhead  was 
elected  after  a  bitter  and  hard-fought  canvass,  and  served  out 
his  term  of  four  years  with  great  credit  and  ability.  I  know 
whereof  I  speak  in  characterizing  this  contest  as  a  bitter  one. 
I  was  in  it  myself,  giving  and  taking  blows  as  best  I  could. 
I  mention  this  simply  for  the  purpose  of  saying  that  I  had  the 
best  opportunity  that  could  have  been  afforded  me  to  test  fully 
the  mental  and  moral  worth  of  the  man  whose  life  and  public 
services  we  commemorate  to-day. 

In  the  formation  of  his  political  opinions  he  was  not  the 
mere  blind  follower  of  any  leader.  He  followed  the  leading 
of  his  own  conscientious  convictions,  and  had  decision  of  char- 
acter and  moral  courage  sufficient  to  differ  with  his  own  party 
whenever  he  believed  it  was  in  the  wrong.  Such  a  mind  as  his 
can  never  be  enslaved.  As  a  speaker  he  was  always  forcible 
and  convincing.  There  were  men  who  excelled  him  in  the 
graces  of  elocution,  and  who  had  greater  force  as  advocates  at 
the  bar  and  in  the  political  arena,  but  few  equaled  him  in  his 
persuasive  power  of  reasoning. 

There  was  a  coincidence  connected  with  the  canvass  of 
1850  I  cannot  refrain  from  alluding  to.  Peter  Carr  and  myself 
were  opposing  candidates  for  the  Lower  House,  Broadhead  for 
the  Senate,  and  N.  P.  Minor  was  doing  most  of  the  political 
work  for  the  only  Democratic  newspaper  of  the  county,  and 
all  were  from  the  town  of  Charlottesville,  Va.,  or  its  immedi- 
ate vicinity.  We  had  all  been  reared  and  educated  under  the 


shadow  of  Monticello,  and  yet  were  not  in  accord  upon  the 
political  questions  that  were  then  being  discussed  with  so  much 
bitterness  of  feeling. 

In  1854  he  was  again  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  lower 
branch  of  the  Legislature.  Pike  was  then  entitled  to  two 
members,  as  it  had  been  from  1850.  Broadhead  was  the  only 
Whig  candidate  and  was  easily  defeated  by  a  system  of  swap- 
ping familiar  to  all  political  managers.  H.  C.  Murry  and  Dr. 
W.  W.  Freeman,  of  Spencersburgh,  were  the  successful  can- 
didates. The  latter  for  some  unexplained  reason  resigned 
during  the  fall,  and  I  was  elected  at  a  special  election  held  in 
the  month  of  December  following  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

I  mention  this  fact  solely  for  the  purpose  of  making  another 
statement.  At  the  Senatorial  election  by  the  Legislature  held 
in  the  winter  1854-55,  I  had  the  pleasure  and  great  satisfaction 
of  casting  my  vote  for  James  O.  Broadhead  for  a  seat  in  the 
United  States  Senate. 

I  have  never  entertained  a  solitary  feeling  of  regret  for 
that  act.  We  had  been  on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy  from 
the  time  of  our  first  acquaintance.  We  had  fought  side  by  side 
in  one  of  the  bitterest  political  contests  that  had  ever  taken 
place  in  the  county  of  Pike.  We  were  in  full  accord  in  our 
views  upon  the  great  issues  that  divided  the  political  parties  of 
the  day.  But  above  all  and  beyond  all  he  was  a  man  eminently 
fitted  for  the  position  by  reason  of  his  intellectual  ability  and 
moral  worth.  He  would  have  been  a  fit  successor  to  Missouri's 
great  Senator,  Thomas  H.  Benton. 

For  some  years  before  he  left  the  county,  Col.  Broadhead 
practiced  law  in  partnership  with  Judge  Ezra  Hunt,  but  he 
never  mingled  in  political  strife  after  the  canvass  of  1854.  In 
the  seventeen  years  of  his  residence  in  this  county,  he  was  an 
active  participant  in  all  the  great  legal  battles  that  were  fought 


in  the  courts  of  justice.  His  prominence  as  an  advocate  in  the 
jury  trials  of  the  day  was  not  as  marked  as  some  others,  but 
for  learning  and  ability  he  was  the  peer  of  any  man  in  the  old 
Third  Judicial  Circuit. 

There  was  a  reserve  power  in  his  nature  that  could  only 
be  brought  out  fully  when  he  was  called  upon  to  grapple  with 
the  most  difficult  questions  of  law  and  fact. 

Who  can  tell  the  power  of  such  a  man  for  good  in  the 
community  in  which  he  lived  ?  Who  can  tell  the  extent  of  his 
influence  in  shaping  the  opinions  of  men  upon  the  great  ques- 
tions of  constitutional  law  and  public  policy  that  agitated  the 
country  during  the  period  of  his  professional  life  ?  These  are 
questions  that  cannot  be  answered.  Their  full  solution  can 
only  appear  in  the  final  revelation  of  all  things.  But  the 
impress  of  Colonel  Broadhead's  character  was  as  marked  and 
as  potent  for  good  in  social  as  well  as  in  his  professional  and 
public  life.  Uncontaminated  by  the  vices  and  immoralities  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lived,  with  a  well  cultivated  mind  and  a 
kind  and  affable  nature,  no  man  held  a  higher  position  in  the 
social  circle  than  he.  I  go  back  in  memory  to  those  days  and 
their  associations  with  a  personal  pleasure  and  satisfaction  that 
no  other  recollections  in  life  can  bring  to  me.  I  was  myself 
an  unimportant  member  of  that  circle  and  have  a  personal 
knowledge  of  what  I  say. 

On  the  13th  day  of  May,  1847,  he  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Mary  S.  Dorsey,  daughter  of  Col.  Edward  W.  Dorsey, 
who  resided  some  six  or  eight  miles  southeast  of  Bowling 
Green. 

Mrs.  Broadhead  was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Porter,  wife  of  Judge 
Gilchrist  Porter,  the  man  with  whom  I  studied  law  and  at 
whose  house  I  lived  for  some  time  during  my  stay  in  that 
town.  But  that  circle  has  long  since  been  broken  and  its  links 


scattered  by  the  hand  of  death.  One  by  one  they  have  gone 
to  the  undisturbed  slumber  of  the  grave.  One  by  one  their 
places  have  been  filled  by  others,  and  in  a  very  brief  space  of 
time  we  shall  all  pass  away  and  be  forgotten.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  tell  you  how  lonely  and  desolate  I  feel  to-day  in 
calling  up  the  memories  of  the  last  fifty  years  or  more. 

I  can  never  forget  the  names  and  faces  of  the  men  who  in 
those  days  were  habitually  grouped  about  the  bench  and  bar  of 
the  Pike  Circuit  Court.  There  was  Wm.  M.  Campbell,  of  St. 
Charles  County,  Carty  Wells,  William  Porter  and  George  W. 
Houston,  of  Lincoln  County,  Alfred  W.  Lamb,  of  Rails 
County,  Thomas  J.  Anderson,  Uriel  Wright,  Samuel  T. 
Glover  and  John  D.  S.  Dryden.  of  Marion  County,  and  Gil- 
christ  Porter,  Aylette  H.  Buckner,  James  O.  Broadhead, 
George  W.  Buckner,  John  B.  Henderson  and  Nicholas  P. 
Minor  of  Pike.  General  Henderson  and  myself  are  the  only 
survivors  of  this  long  list  of  men  who  were  actively  engaged  in 
the  business  of  the  courts  in  those  days.  He  has  long  since 
left  the  State,  and  I  stand  here,  solitary  and  alone,  with  these 
memories  crowding  themselves  upon  me  and  realizing  the  fact 
that  my  life  will  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  Very  few  of  its 
hopes  and  dreams  have  been  realized  and  even  the  memory  of 
its  small  achievements  will  soon  be  blotted  out.  I  realize  now 
as  never  before,  the  truth  of  all  that  has  ever  been  said  about 
the  insignificance  and  vanity  of  human  life. 

"What  shadows  we  are,  what  shadows  we  pursue." 


RESOLUTIONS 
BY  JUDGE  DAVID  L.  CALDWELL. 

The  following  resolutions  were  offered  by  Judge  David  L. 
Caldwell  and  were  unanimously  adopted  : 

First.  That  the  death  of  Col.  Broadhead  is  a  source  of 
grief  and  the  most  profound  regret  to  all  the  people  of  the 
county. 

Second.  That  we  are  proud  of  the  fact  that  for  so  many 
years  he  was  a  citizen  of  the  county,  that  he  was  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  bar  and  for  a  large  portion  of  time,  the 
faithful  public  servant  and  representative  of  our  people  in  the 
State  Legislature. 

Third.  That  we  not  only  recognize  the  fact  that  he  was 
a  lawyer  of  eminent  ability,  and  distinguished  in  legislative 
councils  of  the  State  and  nation,  but  that  everywhere  and 
under  all  circumstances  he  was  an  honest  man  and  a  courteous 
gentleman. 

Fourth.  That  the  death  of  such  a  man  is  a  loss  to  the 
nation,  as  well  as  to  the  State  and  community  in  \vhich  he 
lived  and  labored  for  so  many  years. 

Fifth.  That  we  tender  to  Mrs.  Broadhead  and  to  each 
member  of  the  family  our  sympathies  as  well  as  assurances 
of  the  most  profound  respect  and  good  wishes. 

Sixth.  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions be  forwarded  to  Mrs.  Broadhead  by  the  secretary,  and  that 
they  be  published  by  the  various  newspapers  in  the  county. 

The  chair  then  introduced  Henry  T.  Kent,  Esq.,  of 
St.  Louis,  who  had  been  invited  to  deliver  the  formal  address 
of  the  occasion. 


ADDRESS  OF  HENRY  T.  KENT,  ESQ..  OF  THE 
ST.  LOUIS  BAR. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :— 

It  was  a  perfect  summer  afternoon  on  the  9th  of  August 
last,  as  a  group  of  sorrowing  friends  in  Bellefontaine  Cemetery 
stood  around  a  new-made  grave.  It  was  hid  from  view  by 
floral  tributes,  the  evidence  of  love  and  affection  for  the  dead, 
the  most  marked  being  a  broken  column  upon  the  base  of  which 
was  woven  in  blue  immortelles  the  words  "  Pike  County's 
Noblest  Son." 

l*o  do  honor  to  that  son,  to  testify  to  your  admiration  and 
friendship  for  him  and  to  perpetuate  his  virtues,  is  the  purpose 
of  this  meeting.  And  how  appropriate  the  time  and  place. 
The  learned  Judge  of  the  Circuit  is  here  to  open  the  term  of 
the  court,  whose  record  shows  his  license  to  practice  law,  the 
members  of  the  bar  have  assembled  as  in  other  years,  when  he 
was  with  you.  It  was  at  this  place  he  began  his  professional 
career.  It  was  from  the  people  of  this  county  he  received  his 
first  commission  to  the  public  service.  Fond  of  sports,  with 
rod  and  gun  in  hand,  he  has  pressed  nearly  every  foot  of  your 
soil,  he  knew  the  windings  of  your  streams,  the  shade  of  your 
woodlands,  the  richness  of  your  valleys,  and  the  unrivalled 
views  from  your  hill  tops.  George  Eliot  tells  us  that  '  'A  human 
life  should  be  well  rooted  in  some  spot  of  a  native  land  where 
it  may  get  the  love  of  tender  kinship  for  the  face  of  the  earth, 
for  the  sounds  and  accents  that  haunt  it,  a  spot  where  the 
definiteness  of  early  memories  may  be  inwrought  with  affection 
and  spread  not  by  sentimental  effort  but  as  a  sweet  habit  of 
the  blest."  To  him  this  was  such  a  spot,  for  through  all  the 
wanderings  of  his  years,  sometimes  in  distant  lands  "his 
untraveled  heart  "  still  turned  to  you.  The  days  he  could  steal 


away  from  his  busy  life,  he  often  spent  here  looking  over  scenes 
once  so  familiar  and  visiting  your  hospitable  homes  ever  open 
to  bid  him  welcome.  Surely  I  cannot  be  insensible  to  the 
honor,  which  I  gratefully  acknowledge,  of  the  invitation  to 
pronounce  upon  an  occasion  so  memorable,  a  eulogy  upon  his 
life  and  public  services. 

James  Overton  Broadhead  was  born  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1819,  at  Charlottes ville,  Albemarle  County,  Virginia.  His 
father  was  Achilles  Broadhead,  of  English  stock,  a  captain  in 
the  war  of  1812  and  the  County  Surveyor  for  many  years.  The 
maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Mary  Winston  Carr,  whose 
ancestors  had  emigrated  from  Scotland  and  became  possessed 
of  large  landed  estates  in  Virginia.  The  brother  of  his  mater- 
nal grandfather,  was  Dabney  Carr.  who  married  Mr.  Jefferson's 
sister  Martha,  and  who  was  his  intimate  friend  and  boon  com- 
panion. His  maternal  grandmother  was  first  cousin  of  Patrick 
Henry.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  he  sprang  from  a  strong  and 
sturdy  race  of  people.  He  was  fortunate  as  well  in  the  place  of 
his  birth  and  his  early  surroundings.  He  was  born  at  a  time 
when  many  of  those  who  founded  the  Republic  were  still  living, 
and  in  a  community  where  a  number  of  them  resided.  I  have 
not  gone  into  history  to  see  who  they  were  or  what  position  they 
held,  but  I  prefer  rather  to  call  the  roll  of  these  illustrious  men 
almost  in  the  very  order  and  words  which  I  once  heard  him. 
First  and  foremost  was  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  looked  down 
from  the  heights  of  Monticello  upon  the  village  home  of  the 
Broadheads,  by  which  he  almost  daily  rode  on  his  way  to 
supervise  the  building  of  the  University,  the  absorbing  object 
of  his  declining  years.  Next  was  Mr.  Madison,  the  ' '  father 
of  the  Constitution,"  whom  he  said  he  had  often  met  and 
talked  with.  Another  familiar  figure  in  the  village  streets  was 
Mr.  Monroe,  and  a  few  miles  distant  was  the  birthplace  and 


early  home  of  George  Rogers  Clarke,  the  conqueror  of  the 
Northwest.  In  the  southern  portion  of  the  county  lived 
Andrew  Stevenson,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
and  Minister  to  England,  whilst  in  the  northern  portion  was  the 
home  of  the  gifted  William  C.  Rives,  an  eminent  figure  in  the 
United  States  Senate  when  that  body  was  filled  with  giants,  and 
afterwards  the  accomplished  diplomat,  as  Minister  to  France. 

It  was  not  unusual  to  see  these  men  talking  together  in 
small  groups  or  with  their  neighbors.  I  have  somewhere  read 
of  a  number  of  farmers  waiting  at  the  old  mill  at  Shadwell  for 
their  meal.  As  they  were  conversing  together  they  noticed, 
walking  leisurely  down  the  road  from  Monticello,  four  gentle- 
men. As  they  approached  they  recognized  Mr.  Jefferson. 
They  at  once  spoke  to  him  and  he  in  turn  introduced  them  to 
his  friends,  Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Monroe  and  Gen.  Lafayette. 
There  were  others  living  in  the  county  whose  reputations  were 
more  limited,  but  who  were  full  of  love  and  zeal  for  their 
country,  and  in  different  capacities  had  performed  signal  pub- 
lic services.  It  was  doubtless  true  that  the  community  where 
these  eminent  men  lived  had  been  permeated  by  the  influence 
of  their  lives,  that  the  theme  of  conversations  on  the  street 
corners,  at  the  cross-roads,  as  well  as  at  every  meeting  place, 
turned  upon  the  Republic,  then  in  its  experimental  stage  — 
upon  our  institutions,  their  peculiar  nature,  the  guarantees  of 
the  Constitution  and  its  interpretation,  the  strength  and  weak- 
ness of  popular  government  and  kindred  topics.  And  if  among 
the  plain  country  folk  there  was  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  they 
appealed  to  a  living  witness  to  interpret.  In  the  heart  of 
these  men  was  a  patriotism  that  consecrated  them  to  loyal 
and  unselfish  devotion  to  the  country's  cause  and  service. 

One  can  well  imagine,  in  view  of  his  after  life,  that  the 
young  Broadhead  was  an  eager  listener  to  these  discussions,  if 


not  an  active  participant  therein.  He  was  fortunate  in  these 
formative  influences  for,  without  doubt,  they  impressed  them- 
selves deeply  upon  his  life,  as  seen  in  the  rich  fruit  of  after  years. 
His  maternal  uncle,  Dr.  Frank  Carr,  a  very  highly  cultivated 
and  educated  gentleman,  taught  him  in  his  classical  school  at 
Red  Hills,  and  from  him  he  received  a  very  thorough  instruc- 
tion in  English  and  the  classics.  In  1835,  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  remained  a 
year,  supporting  himself  whilst  there  by  his  work  as  tutor. 
Though  unable  to  remain  longer,  by  diligent  study  and  avail- 
ing himself  of  every  opportunity  for  knowledge,  by  his  associa- 
tion with  the  eminent  professors,  most  of  whom  had  been 
brought  by  Mr.  Jefferson  from  Europe,  he  reaped  great  advan- 
tages during  this  time.  He  ever  maintained  an  ardent  love  for 
the  University,  which  he  manifested  in  practical  ways  and  was 
at  his  death,  and  had  been  for  many  years,  the  president  of 
the  Alumni  Association  in  this  State. 

In  1836  his  father  removed  his  family  to  St.  Charles 
Count}*,  where  he  established  himself  upon  a  farm.  The  next 
year  his  son  James  followed.  In  the  same  neighborhood  lived 
the  Hon.  Edward  Bates,  who  engaged  him  as  tutor  for  his 
children.  This  was  another  fortunate  turn  in  his  life.  He  not 
only  taught  the  children  of  Mr.  Bates  and  thus  enjoyed  the 
refining  and  intellectual  influences  of  such  a  home,  but  he  also 
became  his  pupil  as  a  student  of  law.  His  views  on  constitu- 
tional questions,  as  well  as  his  political  opinions  were  no  doubt 
greatly  influenced  by  Mr.  Bates,  and  the  deep  attachment  then 
formed  for  him  was  only  severed  by  death. 

In  1842  he  removed  to  Bowling  Green  and  was  licensed 
to  practice  by  the  late  Judge  Ezra  Hunt.  The  bar  of  the  Third 
Judicial  Circuit,  as  it  was  then  known,  was  an  eminent  one.  It 
embraced  such  names  as  Uriel  Wright,  Thomas  J.  Anderson, 

83 


Samuel  T.  Glover  and  Col.  Richmond,  of  Marion,  Hon.  Edward 
Bates,  William  M.  Campbell  and  Gen.  John  O.  Coulter,  of  St. 
Charles,  and  Judge  Carty  Wells,  of  Lincoln. 

Without  doubt  he  at  omce  took  high  rank  at  the  bar,  dis- 
playing unusual  ability  and  winning  the  confidence  of  the  peo- 
ple. Three  years  later,  though  only  twenty-six  years  of  age,  he 
was  elected  by  the  people  of  this  county  a  member  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  of  1845.  In  entering  politics  he  allied 
himself  with  the  Whig  party,  and  in  1847  was  elected  a  repre- 
sentative from  this  county  to  the  Legislature.  In  1850  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  from  this  district.  The 
canvass  for  these  positions  was  sometimes  conducted  with  much 
warmth,  and  in  the  debates  which  ensued  he  displayed  such 
marked  ability  as  to  greatly  add  to  his  fame  and  strengthen  his 
hold  upon  the  people. 

It  was  while  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  that  the  mem- 
orable struggle  arose  which  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  Senator 
Ben  ton,  after  thirty  years  of  continuous  service,  and  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Whig  candidate,  Mr.  Geyer,  whose  cause  Col. 
Broadhead  ably  championed. 

In  1847  he  married  Miss  Dorsey,  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Col.  Dorsey,  of  this  county.  Again  good  fortune  attended 
him,  and  whilst  good  taste  forbids  an  intrusion  into  the  sanc- 
tity of  home,  it  may  be  said  that  this  alliance  brought  great 
happiness  —  the  strength  of  character  of  his  wife,  her  love  and 
devotion  and  those  of  his  children  (for  they  were  a  family 
warmly  knit  together),  were  a  constant  source  of  support  in 
the  active  and  stormy  life  he  led.  His  home  was  the  seat  and 
center  of  bounteous  but  unostentatious  hospitality. 

Though  his  success  at  the  bar  in  this  county  was  great, 
and  was  year  by  year  growing,  he  felt  that  a  city  afforded 
larger  opportunities,  and  so  in  1859  he  removed  to  St.  Louis. 


Soon  afterward  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Fidelio 
C.  Sharp,  which  was  terminated  by  the  latter 's  death  in  1875. 
No  law  firm  in  Missouri  was  better  known.  During  the  period 
of  this  partnership  there  was  hardly  any  litigation  of  impor- 
tance in  St.  Louis  that  Sharp  &  Broadhead  were  not  on  one 
side  or  the  other.  The  vast  litigation  growing  out  of  the  war, 
intricate  commercial  and  corporate  questions,  those  effecting 
the  extension  of  the  railway  systems  of  the  State,  and  the  fore- 
closure and  reorganization  of  same,  in  a  word  every  phase  of 
law  with  which  an  eminent  lawyer  is  called  to  deal,  were 
involved  in  the  numberless  cases  he  argued  before  the  Federal 
and  State  Courts.  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  address  to 
enumerate  even  the  leading  cases  with  which  he  was  connected. 
His  name  is  found  in  the  Supreme  Court  reports  not  long  after 
he  began  to  practice.  From  that  time  forward  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  a  volume  in  which  his  name  in  some  case  of 
importance  did  not  appear.  In  the  case  of  the  City  of  St. 
Louis  against  the  Gas  Light  Co. ,  involving  intricate  questions 
of  law  as  well  as  vast  moneyed  interests,  and  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  bar  of  the  State,  he  was  retained  by  the 
company  to  argue  it  before  the  Supreme  Court.  A  distin- 
guished member  of  the  bench  pronounced  it  the  ablest  argument 
he  had  heard  during  his  term. 

In  1876  he  was  the  special  counsel  for  the  government  in 
the  celebrated  "  Whisky  Ring  "  cases  which  excited  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  country,  owing  especially  to  the  magnitude 
of  the  conspiracy  and  the  eminence  of  the  men  on  trial.  His 
addresses  to  the  jury  were  models  of  clear,  concise  and  logical 
massing  of  the  facts. 

In  talking  with  him  a  few  years  ago  about  the  leading 
causes  with  which  he  had  been  connected,  he  said  to  me  that 
he  considered  that  his  greatest  professional  triumph  was  in  the 


decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case 
of  the  Express  Companies  against  the  Railroad  Companies.  It 
had  been  decided  in  the  court  below  that  an  express  company 
in  the  absence  of  any  contract  with  a  railway  company  had  the 
right  to  require  of  such  company  a  special  car  or  cars  for  its 
express  matter,  to  furnish  a  place  for  an  express  messenger 
and  to  furnish  accommodations  at  the  different  stations  for  the 
express  company,  the  compensation  to  be  determined  by  the 
court  without  any  agreement  between  the  parties.  In  a  word, 
was  the  railway  a  common  carrier  of  a  common  carrier?  Three 
of  the  Justices  on  the  Circuit  had  decided  in  favor  of  the  express 
companies  and  opposed  to  him  were  such  eminent  counsel  as 
Senator  Edmunds,  Mr.  Seward,  of  New  York  and  Ex-Judge 
John  A.  Campbell,  of  New  Orleans.  Upon  him  fell  the  responsi- 
bility of  closing  the  case  in  a  speech  which  lasted  over  two 
days.  Those  who  heard  him  pronounced  his  speech  as  masterly, 
taking  first  rank  among  the  great  arguments  that  have  been 
made  before  that  high  tribunal.  The  result  was  a  reversal  of 
the  decision  of  the  lower  court.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
cases  in  which  he  was  engaged  and  which  showed  his  powers 
to  the  best  advantage  was  what  is  popularly  known  as  the 
Mormon  Church  case,  by  which  he  claimed  that  the  act  of  Con- 
gress March  3,  1887,  decreed  a  dissolution  of  the  corporation 
by  virtually  confiscating  its  property  to  the  United  States  with- 
out any  default  on  the  part  of  the  corporation  or  any  judicial 
judgment  of  ouster  or  dissolution.  He  arraigned  with  much 
power  the  act  as  nothing  more  nor  less  than  judicial  legislation 
and  an  unwarranted  exercise  of  arbitrary  power.  Legislatures 
and  the  customs  of  communities  might  change  certain  laws  to 
meet  public  exigencies  but,  said  he,  "There  is  a  law  that  does 
not  change  ;  the  law  of  the  land  which  recognizes  the  doctrine 
that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property 


without  due  process  of  law.  That  is  unchangeable  and  eternal. 
It  qualifies  the  authority  of  legislators,  it  limits  the  jurisdiction 
of  courts  ;  it  stands  as  a  sentinel  to  guard  against  the  approach 
of  arbitrary  power  over  individual  liberty  everywhere  through- 
out this  land.  Whencesoever  it  came,  whether  from  the  barons 
of  Runymede  or  from  the  forests  of  Germany,  or  from  the 
teachings  of  Greek  philosophers  of  an  early  age,  it  has  found 
its  way  here  and  in  this  country  it  has  become  the  foundation 
stone  of  our  political  fabric. ' ' 

To  one  who  met  him  in  consultation  or  saw  him  about  the 
court  room  he  seemed  at  first  sluggish  and  indifferent  to  what 
was  going  on.  But  as  soon  as  the  facts  of  the  case  were  stated 
he  was  remarkably  quick  to  announce  what  the  law  thereon 
was.  So  well  versed  was  he  upon  the  underlying  principles 
that  it  was  a  rare  occurrence  if,  whenever  he  announced  a  pro- 
position of  law,  adjudicated  cases  could  not  be  found  to  sustain 
him.  A  leading  member  of  the  bar  who  was  often  pitted 
against  him  said  he  could  never  surprise  or  confuse  him  on  the 
law  for  he  was  always  ready  ;  the  only  hope  was,  by  diligent 
preparation  to  get  ahead  of  him  on  the  facts.  He  believed  with 
L,ord  Coke  that  ' '  Reason  is  the  life  of  the  law, ' '  and  in  his  argu- 
ments he  rarely  contented  himself  by  stating  what  certain  cases 
had  decided,  but  he  gave  the  reason  therefor  and  the  principle 
underlying  them.  What  we  call  the  technicalities  of  the  law 
were  distasteful  to  him.  He  had  a  direct  mind  which  went 
straight  to  the  core  and  heart  of  the  case.  He  never  appeared 
so  well  in  the  court  room  as  when  fully  aroused  by  the  heat  of 
the  contest.  It  was  then  he  was  most  resourceful,  his  faculties 
were  brought  into  full  play  and  he  dealt  the  sledge  hammer 
blows  that  made  him  such  a  tower  of  strength  at  the  bar. 
Nature  had  been  lavish  in  endowing  him  with  high  intellectual 
powers,  but  that  which  seemed  to  give  him  extraordinary  force 


as  a  lawyer  was  his  exalted  sense  of  justice.  The  court  room 
was  something  sacred  to  him,  the  place  where  life,  liberty  and 
property  were  dealt  with.  He  believed  with  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh that,  "Justice  is  the  permanent  interest  of  all  men  and 
all  commonwealths."  And  with  Mr.  Webster  that,  "Justice  is 
the  great  interest  of  man  on  earth  It  is  the  ligament  that 
holds  civilized  beings  and  civilized  nations  together,''  and,  like 
him,  worshipping  at  its  temple,  he  steadily  "contributed  to 
raise  its  august  dome  still  higher  in  the  skies." 

He  knew  that  the  blessings  of  justice  amongst  the  people 
could  only  be  realized  through  the  courts.  Hence  to  him  any 
undermining  of  the  judicial  system,  either  by  partisan  attacks, 
exacting  decrees  to  suit  popular  clamor,  or  by  timid  or  corrupt 
judges  yielding  to  base  influences,  was  weakening  popular 
government  by  withdrawing  one  of  its  greatest  bulwarks.  He 
believed  with  Marshall  that,  "The  greatest  scourge  an  angry 
Heaven  could  inflict  upon  a  sinful  people  was  a  corrupt  and 
dependent  Judiciary."  No  matter  what  case  he  was  called 
into,  what  branch  of  the  law  it  involved,  those  who  stood 
opposed  to  him  recognized  the  fact  that  they  had  a  formidable 
antagonist  to  cope  with.  But  the  bent  of  his  mind  and  without 
doubt  his  greatest  strength  lay  along  the  line  of  constitutional 
law.  He  was  a  profound  student  of  English  institutions,  and 
had  traced  step  by  step  the  growth  and  development  of  consti- 
tutional principles.  He  knew  that  when  the  first  English 
colony  lauded  in  1607  at  Jamestown,  the  seed  of  the  freedom 
of  the  individual  as  a  matter  of  right  and  not  of  privilege  had 
been  sown  on  this  continent.  He  saw  this  seed  take  root  and 
grow  with  marvelous  rapidity,  receiving  fresh  impetus  from 
the  revolution,  until  finally  it  was  crystalized  in  organic  law, 
securing  to  us  forever  the  blessings  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  the  royal  lions  that  guard  the  monument  of  our  national 


glory.  So  it  was,  that  when  he  came  to  interpret  constitutions 
he  read  them  not  alone  by  the  letter  but  the  spirit  as  well,  for 
he  knew  the  origin  thereof  and  how  these  lines  could  be  traced 
through  the  growth  of  centuries  and  through  suffering  and 
bloodshed.  Col.  Broadhead  had  been  a  great  student  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  interpretations  placed  upon  it  by  the 
courts.  He  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall. 
He  believed  that  it  was  true  as  said  of  him  that  he  found  the 
Constitution  "  inanimate  and  inarticulate  and  gave  it  light  and 
life  and  a  voice  of  sovereign  command."  He  had  at  finger's 
end  all  of  that  eminent  Jurist's  great  opinions,  such  as  Marbury 
vs.  Madison,  McCullough  vs.  Maryland/ Ogden  vs.  Gibbons, 
the  Dartmouth  College  case,  Fletcher  vs.  Peck,  Sturges  vs. 
Crowninshield,  Cohen  vs.  Virginia,  and  others.  These  were 
the  landmarks  by  which  he  steered.  That  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment was  one  of  enumerated  powers  and  could  only  exercise 
the  powers  granted  was  with  him  axiomatic.  As  to  the  extent 
of  the  powers  granted  it  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  a 
source  of  debate.  The  rule  laid  down  by  the  great  Chief 
Justice  was,  "  Let  the  end  be  legitimate  ;  let  it  be  within  the 
scope  of  the  Constitution  and  all  means  which  are  appropriate, 
which  are  plainly  adapted  to  that  end,  which  are  not  prohibited 
but  consist  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  are 
constitutional."  By  this  cannon  of  construction  he  tested 
every  questionable  act  of  the  Federal  Government.  He  was 
not  a  latitudinarian  in  construction.  But  he  saw  in  the  Federal 
Government,  to  the  extent  of  powers  delegated  to  it,  all  the 
attributes  of  sovereignty  : — a  legislature  to  enact  laws,  a  judi- 
ciar)'  to  interpret  and  an  executive  to  enforce  them,  and  all 
laws  so  enacted  were  "the  supreme  law  of  the  land."  He 
knew  it  would  be  a  weak  government  that  could  not  enforce  its 
own  laws  and  it  would  be  incompatible  with  the  very  idea  of 
sovereignty  to  rely  upon  a  different  hand  for  that  end. 


In  1878  he  was  elected  the  first  president  of  the  American 
Bar  Association,  which  was  organized  at  Saratoga.  This  honor 
he  highly  appreciated  as  an  evidence  of  his  standing  with  his 
professional  brethern  ;  for  it  may  be  said,  without  detracting 
from  others,  that  no  lawyer  in  Missouri  enjoyed  such  a 
national  reputation. 

He  did  not  believe  that  the  duties  of  a  lawyer  began  and 
ended  with  the  court  room  or  the  consultation  chamber.  He 
looked  upon  the  profession  of  the  law  as  an  order  of  govern- 
ment and  he  who  lived  up  to  its  full  measure  had  a  public 
service  to  perform  whether  in  or  out  of  office.  This  high  sense 
of  public  service  was  perhaps  early  quickened  in  him  by  the 
inspiration  of  the  brilliant  galaxy  of  names  in  his  native  State, 
some  of  whom  he  had  seen,  who,  whilst  founding  States, 
embodying  in  statutes  and  constitutions  the  principles  of 
liberty,  protected  by  law,  were  the  great  leaders  of  the  bar. 
When  called  upon  to  advise  or  counsel,  or  even  aggressively 
participate  in  public  matters,  he  never  said  :  "I  am  too  busy 
with  private  affairs,  I  am  making  too  much  money  to  give  my 
services  for  the  public  good. ' '  To  him  such  an  answer  would 
have  been  ignoble  and  unworthy.  His  professional  and  public 
life  were  so  closely  interwoven  that  it  is  a  difficult  task  to 
speak  of  one  without  discussing  the  other. 

PUBLIC  LIFE. 

In  an  analysis  of  his  public  life  I  am  sure  this  audience  will 
welcome  candid  speech.  The  positions  he  assumed  on  many 
of  the  momentous  issues  and  questions  he  dealt  with,  differed 
sometimes  radically  from  those  you  maintained.  Nevertheless, 
I  should  be  unworthy  of  him  or  of  this  occasion  did  I  not  speak 
forth  with  frankness,  endeavoring  to  state,  as  I  shall  with  fair- 
ness, the  reasons  and  motives  that  actuated  him. 


Over  the  portal  of  the  main  building  of  his  Alma  Mater 
is  inscribed  her  motto:  "And  you  shall  know  the  truth,  and 
the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  This  was  the  spirit  of  her 
founder  ;  this  was  the  spirit  that  animated  Col.  Broadhead  in 
the  investigation  of  every  question.  He  was  not  afraid  to 
search  for  truth,  and  far  better  still,  when  once  found,  he  had 
the  moral  and  physical  courage  to  plant  himself  thereon,  little 
caring  what  the  results  to  him  personally  might  be. 

We  find  him  in  1861,  that  period  that  tried  men's  souls, 
neither  dodging  or  sulking,  but  bravely  meeting  the  issues  of 
the  impending  crisis.  Events  moved  with  rapidity  ;  States 
were  withdrawing  from  the  Union,  Federal  authority  was 
defied  and  the  war  clouds  were  gathering.  Confronted  by 
these  conditions,  the  Legislature  called  a  convention  to  con- 
sider the  relations  existing  between  Missouri  and  the  Federal 
Government.  Amongst  the  eminent  men  who  composed  its 
membership  Col.  Broadhead  stood  in  the  front  rank.  His 
views  upon  the  powers  of  the  general  government  were  well 
fixed.  He  re-enforced  these  convictions  with  an  ardent  love  for 
the  Union,  and  with  a  firm  determination  so  far  as  in  him  lay  to 
maintain  it  at  all  hazards.  Looking  back  after  more  than  three 
decades  have  elapsed,  with  the  prejudices  of  that  stormy  period 
eliminated,  I  think  he  presented  at  that  hour  an  heroic  figure. 
Knowing  his  love  for  his  kith  and  kin,  for  the  associations  and 
friends  of  his  youth  and  manhood,  and  seeing  most  of  them  siding 
with  the  South,  it  was  no  easy  task  to  face  their  taunts,  to  hear 
their  words  of  disloyalty  to  the  people  amongst  whom  he  had 
been  born  and  lived  ( for  what  stronger  ties  than  those  of  blood 
and  society),  yet  he  would  not  have  been  the  Broadhead  we  have 
known,  had  he  hesitated  a  moment  to  take  the  step  whither 
conviction  and  duty  pointed  the  way.  On  March  the  12th  and 
13th,  1861,  he  delivered  before  the  convention  a  speech  of  great 


power  and  ability  which,  if  time  permitted,  would  be  well 
worthy  of  extended  examination.  It  was  on  a  resolution 
offered  by  Mr.  Moss,  of  Clay  County  :  "And  further  believing 
that  the  fate  of  Missouri  depends  upon  the  peaceable  adjust- 
ment of  our  present  difficulties,  she  will  never  countenance  or 
aid  a  seceding  State  in  making  war  on  the  general  government, 
nor  will  she  furnish  men  and  money  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
the  general  government  in  any  attempt  to  coerce  a  seceding 
State."  He  discussed  at  length  the  nature  of  the  general 
government  under  the  Constitution.  He  pointed  out  that  the 
general  government  had  certain  delegated  powers,  and  that  the 
laws  enacted  in  pursuance  thereof  were  supreme.  That  to  see 
that  such  laws  were  enforced  the  general  government  could 
use  all  the  military  force  at  its  command,  with  full  power  to 
call  upon  the  militia  of  the  States  to  suppress  any  insubordina- 
tion of  citizens  defying  such  laws,  or  refusing  to  yield  obedience 
thereto.  This  doctrine,  thirty-five  years  after,  he  maintained, 
when  the  President  used  the  military  forces  at  Chicago  to  see 
that  the  Federal  laws  affecting  commerce  between  States  and 
the  mails  of  the  United  States  should  not  be  defied,  but 
executed,  whether  on  the  soil  of  Illinois  or  any  other  State. 

Passing  from  constitutional  grounds  he  analyzed  the  prop- 
erty interests  of  Missouri,  showing  the  small  percentage  repre- 
sented as  slave  property,  and,  upon  economic  reasons,  the  folly 
of  Missouri's  attempt  to  sever  her  connection  with  the  Union. 
Upon  those  who  saw  bloodshed  and  death  and  devastation 
ahead  unless  Missouri  remained  neutral  he  turned,  and,  with  an 
impassioned  burst  of  eloquence  full  of  meaning  to  one  of  his 
courage,  and  not  given  to  vain  boasting,  and  exclaimed  "Who 
would  not  be  willing  to  meet  these  calamities  to  preserve  the 
Union  and  Missouri  in  the  Union  and  secure  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity  such  a  destiny  as  most  assuredly  awaits  us. 

41 


That  man  who  does  not  know  when  to  die  is  not  fit  to  live  ; 
and  what  better  time  to  offer  up  our  lives  than  in  behalf  of 
such  a  cause?" 

During  this  year,  at  the  instance  of  his  friend,  the  Hon. 
Frank  P.  Blair,  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety,  to  whom  was  confided  the  guidance  of  all  move- 
ments in  the  interest  of  the  Union  and  the  resistance  to  all 
attempts  at  the  secession  of  the  State. 

Upon  the  work  of  this  committee  largely  depended  the 
future  of  the  State  ;  whether  it  was  to  remain  in  the  Union  or 
withdraw  therefrom.  His  death  removed  the  last  survivor  of 
the  committee,  his  associates  being  Samuel  T.  Glover,  O.  D. 
Filley,  Frank  P.  Blair,  J.  J.  Wetzig  and  John  How.  Again,  in 
November,  1861,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  friend  and 
preceptor  in  the  law,  Hon.  Edward  Bates,  then  Attorney  Gen- 
eral in  President  Lincoln's  cabinet,  he  accepted  the  position  of 
United  States  Attorney,  but  he  found  his  time  so  engrossed 
with  other  public  duties  he  had  assumed,  which  he  considered 
of  greater  importance  to  the  government,  that  he  resigned  this 
office  in  August,  1862. 

In  1863  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Third 
Missouri  Cavalry  and  was  made  Provost  Marshal  General  of 
the  Military  Department  of  Missouri.  In  many  respects  in  no 
position  he  ever  held  did  his  superb  qualities  show  forth  so 
well  as  in  this.  His  powers  were  almost  absolute  ;  like  the 
centurion  of  old  he  could  say,  "to  one  come  and  he  cometh 
and  to  another  go  and  he  goeth."  The  people  of  the  State 
were  rent  in  twain,  families  were  divided,  neighbors  were  at 
war,  men  spoke  in  bated  breath,  not  knowing  their  friends  or 
enemies.  The  malicious  sought  an  opportunity  for  revenge  ; 
there  were  plots  and  counterplots  and  no  man  knew  what  hour 
he  might  be  dragged  to  prison,  or  shot  down  by  some  raiding 

42 


guerrilla.  Growing  out  of  such  conditions  there  came  before 
him  the  most  delicate  questions,  for  even  human  life  oftentime 
hung  in  the  balance.  Though  clad  in  the  uniform  of  a  soldier, 
he  administered  his  office  as  one  wearing  the  robes  of  a  judge. 
All  his  life  he  assailed  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power.  He 
once  said  it  had  no  other  basis  than  the  answer  of  the  brute 
and  barbarian,  "I  am  stronger  than  thou. "  He  ignored  the 
maxim,  "Inter  arma  leges  silent."  It  was  the  testimony  of 
those  associated  with  him  in  this  work  that,  through  the  hours 
of  the  day  and  often  into  the  quiet  of  the  nighttime  he  was 
patiently  passing  upon  papers  and  the  proceedings  of  drum- 
head court  martials  that  often  involved  the  life  of  a  citizen, 
with  the  care,  patience  and  conscientious  regard  of  an  upright 
judge.  In  the  madness  of  the  hour,  though  firm  as  a  rock  in 
upholding  the  government,  he  was  fair  and  just  to  his  fellow- 
citizens,  the  highest  praise  coming  from  those  arrayed  against 
him.  Some  in  similar  positions  had  been  merciless  in  their 
action.  It  wras  not  so  with  him.  He  supplanted  tyranny  with 
justice,  tempered  power  with  moderation,  and  even  amid  the 
fierce  passions  and  strife  of  civil  war, 

"  He  bore  the  white  flower  of  a  stainless  life." 

But  now  the  ' '  bugles  sang  truce ' '  and  the  war  was  over. 
The  victorious  armies  of  the  Union  were  marching  home  with 
their  proud  banners  unfurled  and  amid  the  loud  acclaim  of  the 
people.  But  to  this  State,  so  divided  as  it  had  been  in  the 
struggle,  there  came  the  scattered  fragment  of  another  army, 
feelingly  described  as  "an  army  that  marched  home  in  defeat 
and  not  in  victory,  in  pathos  and  not  in  splendor,  but  in  glory 
unequaled  and  to  hearts  as  loving  as  ever  welcomed  heroes 
home."  They  were  of  kindred  ties  and  associations  with  you. 
They  were  "bone  of  your  bone  and  flesh  of  your  flesh,"  but 

M 


they  found  themselves  and  all  who  sympathized  with  them 
disfranchised,  resting  under  pains  and  penalties  and  debarred 
from  exercising  the  rights  of  citizenship.  More  perplexing 
problems  rarely  ever  confronted  a  people.  The  hour  called 
for  a  high  order  of  statesmanship,  for  superb  courage,  for  hearts 
rilled  with  magnanimity  for  the  vanquished.  Thanks  be  to 
God,  men  arose  in  this  State  equal  to  the  hour.  Col.  Broadhead 
knew  history  well.  He  knew  that  a  political  party  in  complete 
control  of  every  department  of  the  government  that  had  carried 
to  a  successful  end  such  a  war,  with  the  prestige  of  preserving 
the  Union  and  maintaining  the  supremacy  of  the  flag  with  all 
it  stands  for,  was  destined  to  control  the  government  for  years 
to  come.  Had  selfish  ambition,  had  greed  for  office  controlled 
him  he  could  easily  have  seen  that  the  way  to  high  political 
honors  was  through  an  adherence  to  the  Republican  party. 
But  in  this  as  in  every  political  act  of  .his  life,  he  measured  his 
actions  by  the  standard  of  what  his  convictions  told  him  was 
right,  regardless  of  the  consequences  to  himself.  The  air  was 
full  of  the  words  "traitor"  and  "rebel,"  the  prejudices  were 
something  which  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  forty  years,  we  can 
little  appreciate  ;  but  it  was  not  in  his  great  heart  to  harbor  hate 
and  ill-will  born  of  civil  war,  for  with  him,  these  like  the  froth 
of  angry  waters  had  passed  away  with  the  storm.  His  personal 
and  political  friend,  the  Hon.  Frank  P.  Blair,  in  whose  ability, 
patriotism  and  leadership  he  had  unbounded  confidence,  had 
sounded  a  second  call  to  arms  ;  and  the  scattered  hosts  of  the 
Democracy  were  gathering  for  a  new  alignment.  He  had 
taken  a  bold  stand  against  the  provisions  of  the  Drake  Con- 
stitution, which  not  alone  destroyed  the  citizenship,  but  pre- 
vented many  from  pursuing  their  vocations  as  a  means  of  earn- 
ing their  daily  bread.  He  was  equally  outspoken  in  denounc- 
ing the  reconstruction  acts  of  Congress  as  revolutionary. 

44 


I 


Col.  Broadhead  was  his  right  hand,  his  chief  lieutenant.  He 
asserted  that  the  so-called  reconstruction  legislation  was  con- 
trary to  the  genius  of  our  government  and  unwarranted  by  the 
Constitution.  He  rejoiced  to  know  that  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  afterwards  in  six  cases,  though  the  large 
majority  of  the  judges  belonged  to  the  dominant  party  that 
enacted  these  laws,  held  this  legislation  unconstitutional  and 
baffled  the  policy  undertaken.  It  shall  be  for  all  time  recorded 
to  the  honor  of  that  tribunal  that  it  rose  above  politics  and 
prejudice,  and  when  the  argument  of  war  necessities  was  urged 
a  learned  judge  answered  back  :  "The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  a  law  for  rulers  and  people  equally  in  war  and 
peace  and  covers  with  the  shield  of  its  protection  all  classes  of 
men  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  No  doctrine 
involving  more  pernicious  consequences  was  ever  invented  by 
the  wit  of  man  than  that  any  of  its  provisions  can  be  super- 
ceded  during  any  of  the  great  exigencies  of  government. 
Such  doctrine  leads  directly  to  anarchy  or  despotism."  In  the 
years  immediately  following,  his  professional  business  was  so 
large  as  to  engross  nearly  all  his  time,  but  whilst  holding  no 
public  position  he  was  continually  called  upon  to  give  counsel 
and  advice  regarding  public  movements  and  policies  and  with 
his  conception  of  a  lawyer's  duty  he  never  declined.  He  was 
often  before  the  people  participating  in  political  campaigns  and 
delivering  addresses  upon  different  topics  affecting  the  State 
and  country. 

In  1875  he  was  elected  from  St.  Louis  a  .member  of  the 
convention  to  form  a  new  Constitution.  Its  membership  was 
made  up  of  some  of  the  first  men  of  the  State,  and  it  is  need- 
less to  say  he  contributed  largely  thereto.  Among  the  ques- 
tions before  the  body  were  those  of  restricting  legislative 
power,  of  checking  the  creation  of  bonded  indebtedness  by 


municipalities  and  counties,  which  had  been  a  fruitful  source 
of  evil,  of  re-organizing  the  judicial  system  of  the  State,  of 
defining  corporate  powers,  of  granting  to  St.  Louis  the  right  to 
enact  a  charter,  thereby  establishing  in  great  degree  local 
autonomy,  and  his  work  on  all  these  matters  proved  of  great 
value.  It  is  fresh  within  the  minds  of  this  generation  how, 
after  the  presidential  election  in  1876,  the  country  seemed  on  the 
verge  of  another  war.  In  December  of  that  year  Gov.  Charles 
H.  Hardin  sent  as  special  representatives  from  this  State  Gen- 
eral John  S.  Marmaduke  and  Col.  Broadhead  to  Albany  to 
confer  with  Gov.  Tilden.  In  the  letter  of  introduction  he  said  : 
' '  In  the  emergency  that  seems  to  be  forcing  itself  upon  the 
country  it  is  proper  that  all  should  know  the  path  of  duty  and 
therefore  it  is  that  these  gentlemen  go  to  you  as  the  best  and 
wisest  counsellors.  You  can  safely  and  confidently  communi- 
cate to  them  such  views  and  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  duties 
of  citizens  and  State  authorities  as  your  judgment  may  dictate. ' ' 
The  private  diary  kept  by  him  during  his  visit  is  interesting  as 
showing  the  conversations  with  Mr.  Tilden,  in  which  they  went 
over  the  crisis  then  pending,  especially  the  legal  and  constitu- 
tional questions  involved  in  the  count  of  the  electoral  vote, 
his  several  trips  between  Washington  and  Albany  and  the  con- 
fidential relationships  he  bore  to  the  party  leaders.  I  allude 
to  these  facts  here  to  show,  as  confirmed  by  the  words  of  Mr. 
Tilden,  the  high  esteem  in  whicn  he  was  held  not  only  in  this 
State  but  throughout  the  country,  and  the  supreme  confidence 
reposed  in  him  in  hours  of  emergency. 

In  1882  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Forty-eighth  Con- 
gress, in  which  he  performed  valuable  services  as  a  member  of 
the  Judiciary  Committee.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  Special  Commissioner  under  an  act  of  Congress 
relative  to  the  French  spoliation  claims.  This  necessitated  his 

46 


making  quite  an  extensive  trip  abroad  to  examine  into  the 
archives  of  the  French  Government  at  Paris  as  well  as  into  the 
records  of  those  tribunals  having  jurisdiction  over  prize  causes 
in  such  cities  as  Havre,  Cherburg  and  others.  He  made  to  the 
State  Department  a  most  valuable  report  involving  the  result 
of  his  labors,  including  procedures  for  condemnation,  of  about 
300  American  vessels  which  was  made  the  basis  of  the  first 
definite  action  by  Congress  upon  matters  which  had  been 
pending  for  nearly  a  hundred  years. 

In  1893  he  was  appointed  a  Minister  to  Switzerland,  which 
position  he  filled  for  about  two  years.  He  disposed  of  all  the 
accumulated  business  he  found,  and  feeling  that  he  could  render 
no  further  service  of  importance  resigned  to  come  home  and 
spend  the  rest  of  his  days  among  his  own  people. 

So  far  as  his  years  and  health  would  permit  he  participated 
in  the  exciting  campaign  of  1896,  being  as  he  always  was  out- 
spoken upon  the  issues  involved.  He  was  always  quick  to  detect 
the  logic  of  political  principles  announced,  and  the  consequences 
to  the  country  flowing  therefrom.  He  saw  in  the  Chicago  plat- 
form a  declaration  of  principles  to  which  he  could  not  honestly 
give  adherence.  He  believed  their  triumph  meant  disaster  to 
the  country.  Whether  you  differed  with  him  or  not,  no  man  that 
knew  the  man  or  the  history  of  his  life,  that  could  say  that  any 
position  he  took  upon  a  public  question  vitally  affecting  the 
interest  of  the  country  was  based  upon  anything  but  honest 
conviction.  I  know  it  pained  him  deeply  to  separate  from 
those  with  whom  he  had  fought  so  many  political  battles, 
many  of  them  being  his  personal  friends  as  well,  but  such  was 
the  nature  of  the  man  that  he  would  never  hesitate  for  personal 
considerations  if  duty  and  conviction,  as  he  saw  them,  called 
for  different  action.  Nor  was  there  the  least  element  of 
cowardice  or  timidity  about  him  upon  such  issues.  He  would 


not  hide  behind  the  decrees  of  a  party,  as  a  means  of  avoiding 
individual  responsibility.  His  conception  of  duty  was,  that 
being  right,  he  should  make  bold  to  assert  the  right.  It  was 
with  such  feelings  that  he  went  to  Chicago  in  July,  1896,  to 
participate  in  a  conference  of  gentlemen  from  the  Western 
States,  who  felt  as  he  did,  to  consider  what  should  be  done. 
Some  hesitated,  but  his  voice  cried  "forward"  and.  the  result 
was  the  calling  of  the  Indianapolis  Convention,  in  which  he 
participated  and  aided  in  formulating  the  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples there  announced  to  which  he  heartily  subscribed  to  the 
day  of  his  death. 

In  summing  up  his  public  career  some  may  say  that  he 
never  arose  to  the  high  positions  that  some  of  his  contemporaries 
reached,  and  by  this  they  measure  him.  I  think  his  friends 
might  well  admit  that  in  many  phases  of  politics  which  in  this 
age  seem  so  essential  to  success,  he  was  decidedly  weak.  But 
with  men  cast  in  this  mould  the  idea  of  office  was  small  as  com- 
pared with  higher  duties  fearlessly  and  faithfully  performed. 
His  ambition  was  to  "  act  well  your  part,  there  all  the  honor 
lies."  In  a  ward  meeting  he  would  have  cut  a  sorry  figure. 
He  was  as  much  out  of  place  in  a  political  convention  or  the 
halls  of  a  legislature  where  it  required  dickers  and  deals  and 
dubious  combinations  to  reach  results.  If  in  a  committee  room 
he  had  been  called  on  to  draft  a  platform  of  principles,  and  the 
suggestion  was  made  that  he  should  go  as  far  in  a  certain 
direction,  regardless  of  the  vital  principles  involved  to  catch  a 
needed  vote  without  losing  many  of  those  of  his  own  party, 
and  in  another  direction  for  the  same  end,  he  would  have 
thrown  down  his  pen  with  contempt  for  an  organization  that 
would  so  act.  If  on  the  other  hand  a  committee  was  honestly 
endeavoring  to  make  a  fearless  proclamation  of  its  principles  to 
the  world  in  accord  with  the  genius  of  the  government  and  its 

48 


constitutional  principles,  or  wished  to  assail  its  opponents  as 
having  failed  in  this  regard,  the  wiser  men  therein  would  have 
said,  before  making  public  our  report  it  would  be  well  to  confer 
with  Col.  Broadhead. 

The  bent  of  his  mind  was  towards  certain  lines  of  thought. 
In  Congress  he  would  have  stood  high  as  chairman  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  or  Foreign  Affairs  when  justice  between 
nations  should  be  the  first  consideration.  Such  positions  as 
the  head  of  the  Appropriations  Committee  or  that  of  Ways  and 
Means  would  in  many  respects  have  been  little  suited  to  him. 
He  could  deal  ably  with  the  legal  phase  of  the  limit  and  power 
of  taxation,  but  dealing  in  figures  and  details,  the  fiscal  policy 
of  the  government,  its  resources  and  how  utilized,  and  its 
expenditures,  such  faculties  as  made  Mr.  Gladstone  such  a 
master  in  handling  the  "Budget,"  were  little  to  his  taste. 
Whilst  one  of  his  intelligence  and  fidelity  to  public  matters 
would  have  been  at  all  times  useful  in  preparing  legislation 
affecting  our  commercial  interests  yet  he  could  never  be  con- 
sidered great  in  such  matters.  To  him  the  liberty  of  the 
citizen  was  dearer  than  the  amount  of  wealth  the  citizen  could 
accumulate.  Whilst  comparatively  few  of  his  years  were  spent 
in  office  yet  in  a  larger  sense  he  was  continuously  in  the  public 
service.  He  was  an  ardent  American.  He  freed  himself  from 
the  curse  of  provincial  politics.  He  was  the  purest  patriot  I 
ever  knew;  he  had  his  country  for  his  client  and  the  cause  of 
no  individual  however  large  the  retainer  given,  was  ever  more 
faithfully  served.  You,  his  fellow  citizens,  some  of  whom 
knew  him  for  half  a  century  can  bear  testimony  to  his  bold 
and  fearless  stand  at  all  times  for  what  he  thought  was 
right  and  the  impossibility  of  defending  what  he  believed  to  be 
error.  "  He  never  sold  the  truth  to  serve  the  hour."  He  was 
straightforward,  direct,  with  no  power  to  tickle  the  ear  of  the 


madding  crowd.  He  did  not  appeal  to  prejudices  but  to 
reason,  and  the  high  obligation  of  patriotism.  To  dissemble 
was  impossible.  He  came  to  the  people,  not  with  adulation, 
but  with  truth,  not  with  words  to  please,  but  with  measures  to 
serve.  With  Burke  in  reply  to  the  noble  lord  he  could  say: 
"  I  was  not  made  for  a  minion  or  a  slave.  As  little  did  I  follow 
the  trade  of  winning  the  hearts  by  imposing  upon  the  under- 
standing of  the  people,  at  every  step  of  my  progress  in  life  I  was 
obliged  to  show  my  passport  and  again  and  again  to  prove  my 
sole  title  to  the  honor  of  being  useful  to  my  country  by  a  proof 
that  I  was  not  unacquainted  with  its  laws  and  the  whole  system 
of  its  interests  both  abroad  and  at  home. ' '  Those  who  believe 
that  the  chief  end  of  a  political  party  is  to  win  victories  and 
distribute  offices  uniting  "  the  loosest  bonds  of  principle  with 
the  closest  bonds  of  organization,"  will  find  much  in  Col. 
Broadhead's  public  life  to  criticize.  He  believed  in  political 
parties  but  he  regarded  them  as  ' '  associations  of  voters  to  pro- 
mote the  success  of  political  principles  held  in  common." 

The  name  and  the  organization  were  little  ;  the  political 
principles  everything.  He  was  never  willing  to  sacrifice  the 
substance  for  the  shadow.  Some  who  little  appreciated  the 
purity  of  his  motives  charged  him  with  vacillating  ;  that  he  had 
changed  from  one  party  to  another.  But  'when  he  did  so  it 
was  against  rather  than  with  the  popular  current  and  it  meant 
a  sacrifice  rather  than  a  reward  for  personal  ambitions  or  low 
and  selfish  ends.  Looking  back  to  those  momentous  events  in 
which  he  played  a  conspicuous  part,  so  far  removed  in  time  as 
not  to  be  clouded  by  the  prejudices  of  the  passing  hour,  I 
think  all  who  differed  from  him  will  admit  that  he  acted  from 
the  highest  patriotism  and  most  of  them  will  add  that  the 
positions  he  took  have  been  proven  to  have  been  the  wisest 
and  for  the  best  interests  of  his  country  and  State.  I  might 


conclude  here,  but  in  any  address  before  his  old  neighbors  no 
picture  of  his  life  would  be  complete  without  speaking  for  a 
moment  of  him  as  a  citizen  and  friend. 

It  is  the  highest  compliment  to  him  as  it  is  to  any  one  that 
those  who  knew  him  best,  who  came  closest  to  him,  were  his 
greatest  admirers  and  could  bear  witness  to  the  unsullied  purity 
of  his  public  and  private  life.  One  of  the  main  secrets  of  his 
success  at  the  bar  was  that  when  he  walked  into  a  court  room 
he  inspired  confidence  in  the  judge  and  the  jury.  They 
believed  in  what  he  said.  Such  was  the  feeling  of  the  people 
towards  him  when  upon  the  hustings.  It  sprang  from  the 
splendid  character  of  the  man.  In  appearance  he  measured  up 
to  what  Thackery  said  of  Henry  Warrington,  that  "Nature  has 
written  a  letter  of  credit  upon  some  men's  faces  which  is 
honored  wherever  presented."  He  had  strong  common  sense 
united  with  plain,  simple  and  direct  character.  L,ike  the  Iron 
Duke, 

"  Rich  in  saving  common  sense, 
And  only  as  the  greatest  are 
In  his  simplicity  sublime." 

To  sham  in  any  phase  of  life  would  have  been  impossible 
in  him.  He  had  abiding  faith  in  popular  government  which 
was  justified  by  the  confidence  the  people  reposed  in  him,  for 
he  was  conscious  of  the  purity  of  his  own  motives,  and  his 
devotion  to  the  country's  good.  His  guileless  nature  made 
him  often  the  target  for  designing  people.  Full  of  passion  he 
turned  at  times  with  anger  upon  those  who  had  abused  his 
confidence  ;  but  it  was  not  in  his  nature  to  harbor  revenge.  He 
never  had  the  quality  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  boasted — that  of 
being  a  good  hater.  I  think  he  was  one  of  the  most  tolerant 
men  I  ever  knew,  but  there  were  two  types  for  which  he  had  a 
supreme  contempt,  the  trickster  in  the  law,  and  the  demagogue  ; 

51 


one  trying  to  cheat  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the 
other  to  deceive  the  people  ;  both  of  these  he  placed  upon 
the  same  level.  Such  was  his  nature — that  "it  rang  true  to 
every  blow  that  tried  his  manhood's  metal."  He  was  full  of 
sympathy  and  generosity  always  having  ' '  a  tear  for  pity  and  a 
hand  open  as  day  to  melting  charity." 

He  had  fondness  for  reading,  and  the  beauties  of  literature. 
The  English  classics  he  was  especially  fond  of  and  with  English 
and  American  history  he  had  great  familiarity,  whilst  all  works 
showing  the  evolution  of  constitutional  government  he  eagerly 
sought  after.  Those  with  whom  he  was  on  intimate  terms  he 
often  surprised  with  his  knowledge  of  poetry  and  how  well  his 
memory  was  stored  with  its  treasures. 

About  two  years  ago  he  remarked  one  day  that  he  felt  the 
infirmities  of  years,  but  that  he  could  not  see  that  his  mental 
faculties  had  been  in  the  least  impaired,  and  that  there  were 
several  pieces  of  work  he  was  anxious  to  finish.  One  was  a 
paper  upon  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  which  he  subsequently 
prepared  and  read  before  the  Missouri  Historical  Society.  So 
exhaustive  is  it  in  research  and  the  testimony  brought  forth 
that  one  wishing  information  upon  that  important  history 
should  seek  it  and  need  seek  no  farther.  It  was  called  forth  by 
the  official  map  of  the  Interior  Department  making  the  Pacific 
Ocean  the  western  boundary  of  the  purchase.  He  contended 
it  was  the  head  waters  of  the  Missouri  river  and  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  being  informed  that  the  map  would  be  so 
changed.  All  public  questions  interested  him  to  the  very  last. 
When  the  war  was  declared  the  flag  was  hoisted  over  his  home, 
an  outward  expression  of  his  lo>ralty.  It  floated  there  when 
he  died.  He  saw  the  navies  of  the  enemy  swept  from  the  sea 
and  its  armies  surrender,  but  he  saw  that  which  pleased  him 
beyond  measure,  the  obliteration  of  sectionalism  forever  ;  and 

n 


the  country  indivisible  in  the  heart  as  upon  the  map.  It  were 
well  could  he  have  been  spared  us  to  aid  in  the  solution  of  the 
grave  questions  now  to  be  dealt  with  growing  out  of  the  war. 
Though  for  forty  years  a  citizen  of  St.  L,ouis  watching  its 
growth  with  pride,  active  in  all  city  affairs  and  a  prominent 
figure  at  social  gatherings,  he  always  seemed  to  turn  with 
fondness  to  pastoral  life.  He  loved  nature  and  was  susceptible 
to  her  impressions.  Every  chirp  of  a  bird,  every  neigh  of  a 
horse,  every  bleat  of  a  sheep  seemed  to  recall  some  sound  and 
scene  that  was  dear.  As  you  saw  him  coming  along  the  street 
he  would  convey  to  a  stranger  a  type  of  a  prosperous  country 
gentleman  who  had  drawn  upon  the  best  of  the  flocks  of  the 
fields,  and  the  fruits  of  the  garden  for  his  table  ;  nor  was  there 
lacking  in  his  ruddy  face  the  suggestion  that  the  mint  patch 
by  the  old  spring  was  still  flourishing.  The  qualities  combined 
in  him  made  a  person  of  marked  individuality.  Most  men  die 
and  others  fill  their  places  and  the  world  moves  on,  little  noting 
their  end.  But  as  you  look  around  there  is  no  one  we  see  like 
unto  him  for  the  world  seems  lonesome  that  he  has  gone. 
Those  who  stood  close  to  him  almost  forget  the  great  lawyer, 
the  pure  patriot  and  statesman,  the  model  citizen  in  thinking 
of  the  genial  simple  and  loving  friend.  Your  homes  were 
always  opened  to  him.  "  He  never  came  too  early  or  staid  too 
late. ' '  Old  age  brought  with  it  no  disappointments  or  bitter- 
ness. His  life  seemed  rather  softened  like  the  fabled  apple  that 
ripens  "on  the  side  the  sun  goes  down."  Though  he  bowed 
with  humility  at  the  altar  of  the  church  of  his  choice,  he  was 
not  a  man  given  to  the  forms  of  religion  or  who  stood  upon  the 
street  corners  to  give  thanks  that  he  was  not  as  others.  He 
endeavored  to  embody  the  teachings  of  the  Master  in  his  life, 
and  an  innumerable  cloud  of  witnesses  can  bear  testimony  to 
how  they  bore  fruit  in  his  daily  walk  and  conversation.  It  is 

08 


well  we  keep  from  view  the  gloom  of  the  sick  chamber.  He 
saw  the  darkness  approaching  but  with  hope  he  looked  ahead 
for  the  ' '  Kindly  Light ' '  to  lead  him  amid  the  encircling  gloom. 
He  did  not  wish  others  to  sorrow  but  rather  to  be  of  good 
cheer,  for  we  can  well  imagine  the  last  lines  from  the  lips  of 
England's  poet  laureate  as  fully  expressive  of  his  feelings  : 

' '  Though  from  out  this  bourne  of  Time  and  Place 
The  flood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face, 
When  I  have  crost  the  bar. ' ' 

There  was  nothing  dramatic  or  to  excite  the  imagination 
of  men  in  his  taking  off. 

The  master  of  English  fiction  has  drawn  a  character  from 
which  we  get  glimpses  of  virtues  we  admired  in  our  friend  and 
who  can  forget  the  brief  but  pathetic  words  that  chronicled  his 
death.  "At  the  usual  evening  hour  the  chapel  bell  began  to 
toll  and  Thomas  Newcome's  hands  outside  the  bed  feebly  beat 
time.  And  just  as  the  last  bell  struck,  a  peculiar,  sweet  smile 
shone  over  his  face  and  he  lifted  up  his  head  a  little  and 
quickly  said  "Adsum,"  and  fell  back.  It  was  the  word  we 
used  at  school  when  names  were  called,  and  lo,  he  whose  heart 
was  as  that  of  a  little  child  had  answered  to  his  name  and 
stood  in  the  presence  of  the  Maker. ' ' 

So  it  was  with  him,  without  murmur  or  complaint,  as 
unaffected  as  a  child,  he  closed  his  eyes  for  the  last  sleep  as 
' '  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch  about  him  and  lies 
down  to  pleasant  dreams. ' ' 

Gauged  by  the  dollar  mark  some  might  say  in  this  age 
that  after  all,  he  lived  to  little  purpose.  Let  us  take  hope. 
This  great  assemblage  testifies  by  your  presence  your  reverence 
and  regard  for  his  memory  and  his  exalted  life,  and  by  your 
tears,  your  affection  for  the  man.  The  impulse  of  such  a  life 


never  dies.  Who  that  it  has  touched  has  not  felt  it  ?  Though 
it  may  be  unseen  it  passes  from  one  to  another,  for  behold,  the 
influences  of  his  work  are  all  around  us,  the  best  monument  of 
greatness  and  goodness.  Written  not  alone  in  Constitutions, 
in  Statutes,  in  Judicial  Decrees.  From  its  lesson  he  who  is 
called  to  the  bar  feels  a  new  impulse  to  higher  things,  he  who 
would  serve  his  country  with  unselfish  and  patriotic  devotion 
takes  fresh  courage  from  the  good  he  wrought. 

' '  He  needs  no  tears  who  lived  a  noble  life, 
We  will  not  weep  for  him  who  died  so  well  ; 
But  we  will  gather  round  the  hearth  and  tell 
Of  all  his  noble  strife  ; 
Such  homage  suits  him  well, 
Better  than  funeral  pomp  or  passing  bell. ' ' 


H 


ADDRESS   OF   HON.  GIVEN   CAMPBELL   IN 

PRESENTING  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  THE 

ST.  LOUIS  BAR  TO  THE  ST.  LOUIS 

COURT  OF  APPEALS. 

DECEMBER  27.  1898. 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  THE  COURT  : 

ON  the  7th  day  of  August,  1898,  James  Overton  Broad- 
head,  a  lawyer  of  national  reputation  and  a  most 
eminent  member  of  the  bar  of  this  court,  departed 
this  life. 

Born  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  about  one  year  before  the 
birth  of  his  adopted  State,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  fresh 
from  the  teaching  of  the  great  University  founded  by  Jeffer- 
son, he  cast  his  fortune  with  the  people  of  Missouri,  and  with 
her  legal  and  political  history  his  name  has  been  closely  and 
honorably  connected  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

Colonel  Broadhead  was  from  his  earliest  manhood  filled 
with  an  exalted  public  spirit.  His  interest  in  his  community, 
his  State  and  his  country,  constrained  him,  when  occasion 
demanded  voice  and  action,  to  exert  his  powers  in  their  behalf. 
He  has  left  the  stamp  of  his  sure-footed  judgment  upon  our 
statute  books  and  our  reports  have  been  enriched  by  his 
luminous  arguments.  His  voice  never  failed  to  ring  clear  and 
loud  for  the  people's  rights.  The  motto  of  his  mother  State 
was  never  forgotten,  and  he  was  constant  and  unfaltering  in 
his  opposition  and  resistance  to  tyranny  of  any  kind. 


As  a  lawyer  he  was  learned  in  the  great  principles  of 
jurisprudence.  To  him  law  was  a  science  grand  and  progres- 
sive ;  the  philosophy  of  the  law  appealed  to  his  mind,  and  he 
searched  for  principles,  not  cases,  yet  no  one  had  read  more 
carefully  those  decisions  wrought  out  by  the  almost  super- 
natural intellects  of  the  great  judges  who  were  first  called 
upon  to  interpret  our  Federal  Constitution.  It  was  his  knowl- 
edge of  legal  principles  which  constituted  his  most  marked 
excellence  as  an  advocate  and  a  jurist. 

When  difficulties  surrounded  him  and  doubts  clustered 
about  the  mind  of  the  judge,  it  was  then  that  he  drew  freely 
from  his  full  reservoir  and  brought  his  reserved  strength  to  the 
front  and  marshalled  arguments  founded  upon  principles  which 
cleared  away  doubts. 

Colonel  Broadhead  was  nothing  of  an  actor,  but  the 
earnestness  of  his  nature  stirred  the  emotions  or  his  hearers 
with  the  force  of  true  eloquence.  He  despised  all  artifice  ;  he 
had  no  self-consciousness.  He  was  kindly,  trusting,  simple 
and  loyal. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  he  gave  to  the  people  of 
this  State  the  full  measure  of  his  talents  ;  his  mental  industry 
even  in  old  age  did  not  flag,  and  none  of  his  faculties  were 
withered  from  disuse ;  he  lived  out  a  long  and  honored  life, 
and  it  was  most  meet  that  his  brethren  at  the  bar  should  pause 
to  commemorate  his  virtues,  and  on  the  9th  day  of  August, 
1898,  a  meeting  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar  was  held  when  a 
memorial,  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  was  adopted,  to  be 
presented  to  the  courts  in  which  he  practised. 

I  therefore  move  the  court  that  the  memorial  be  spread 
upon  its  records  as  a  remembrance  forever  of  the  virtues  of  our 
departed  brother. 


H 


ADDRESS  OF  JAMES  HAGERMAN,  ESQ.,  IN 

PRESENTING  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  THE 

ST.  LOUIS  BAR  TO  THE  CIRCUIT 

COURT  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

JANUARY  3,  1899. 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  THE  COURT  : 

THE  mournful,  yet  loving  task  has  been  assigned  me  of 
presenting  to  this  Honorable  Court  the  memorial  of  the 
St.  Louis  Bar  upon  the  life  and  character  of  James  O. 
Broadhead.  I  was  at  the  meeting  of  our  bar  immediately 
following  the  announcement  of  his  death,  and  well  remember 
that  our  sorrow  was  so  great  and  the  touching  words  of 
affectionate  praise  by  his  surviving  professional  brethren  and  an 
old  outside  friend,  so  wrought  upon  the  feelings  of  all,  that  it 
was  concluded  wise  to  take  time  for  the  preparation  of  a  calm, 
thoughtful  and  matured  estimate  of  our  deceased  brother, 
worthy  of  him  and  creditable  to  us.  The  memorial  I  present 
is  the  result  of  the  action  then  taken,  and  its  warmth  of  expres- 
sion, beauty  of  diction,  wealth  of  information,  and  tender, 
impartial  and  philosophic  vein  amply  justify  the  wisdom  of 
our  course.  When  lodged  in  the  archives  of  the  court  (as  we 
hope  it  may  be)  it  will  be  an  enduring  testimonial  in  the  nature 
of  a  permanent  record  which  will  survive  traditions  and  the 
mutations  of  years. 

59 


The  memorial  derives,  if  possible,  added  interest  from  its 
author.  The  names  of  Blair  and  Broadhead  are  indissolubly 
linked  together  in  the  history  of  our  city,  State  and  nation.  It 
is  rightful  evolution  and  harmonious,  poetic  justice  that  Frank 
Blair's  son  should  be  the  organ  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar  to  pro- 
nounce its  official  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Col.  Broadhead. 

How  strange  it  seems  that  Broadhead  is  no  longer  here 
and  that  we  are  to  meet  and  to  greet  him  no  more  in  this  forum 
where  he  was  always  such  a  conspicuous  presence,  and  which 
has  been  the  scene  of  so  many  of  his  professional  conflicts  and 
achievements.  He  was  an  active  practitioner  in  this  court  long 
before  any  of  the  now  living  judges  of  any  of  the  Federal 
Courts  assumed  their  judicial  functions.  His  career  at  the  bar 
spanned  more  than  a  half-century.  He  was  here  when  Justice 
Catron  rode  the  circuit  and  during  the  larger  part  of  the 
judicial  administration  of  Judge  Wells.  He  saw  Justice  Miller 
appointed,  and  was  here  during  all  the  time  that  great  judge 
ruled  and  reigned.  He  was  here  when  Treat  ascended  the 
bench,  and  was  a  continuing  witness  of  the  labors  of  that 
excellent  and  just  judge  until  he  retired  to  a  well  deserved  rest 
from  the  toilsome  exactions  of  his  double  duties  in  the  Circuit 
and  District  Courts.  Broadhead  was  here  before  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  provided  for  Circuit  Judges.  When  Judge 
Dillon  adorned  and  illumined  this  bench  he  was  almost  con- 
stantly at  this  bar,  and  was  here  during  the  whole  mild,  thought- 
ful and  beneficent  ministration  of  Judge  McCrary.  He  saw 
Judge  Brewer  preside  here  and  pass  to  the  Supreme  Court,  there 
to  enroll  his  name  among  the  eminent  judges  of  the  century. 
Broadhead  had  been  in  the  full  tide  of  practice  here  long  before 
Caldwell  took  charge  of  the  Federal  District  Court  of  Arkansas, 
and  was  here  when  that  able  judge  came  to  this  court  and  put  his 
armor  on  and  lifted  his  visor  as  a  Circuit  Judge.  He  saw  Judge 


Sanborn  come  fresh  from  the  bar  of  the  Northwest  and  take  his 
place  upon  this  bench.  He  was  here  before  Thayer  was  elevated 
to  the  State  bench,  and  witnessed  his  appointment  as  United 
States  District  Judge,  rapidly  followed  by  promotion  to  Circuit 
Judge.  He  contributed  to  the  creation  of  the  Federal  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals,  and  saw  the  judges  of  that  court  assume  their 
judicial  robes,  and  was  spared  to  see  its  judicial  duties  adminis- 
tered by  its  present  wise  triumvirate  of  judges,  who  have,  how- 
ever, fortunately  not  ceased  to  be  judges  of  the  Circuit  Court. 
He  saw  Priest  (whom  he  was  wont  to  call  one  of  his  boys)  come 
here,  receive  his  judicial  christening  and  go  back  to  the  activi- 
ties of  the  bar.  He  was  here  to  welcome  and  approve  Judge 
Adams'  renewal  of  a  former  voluntarily  interrupted  judicial 
career.  Always  a  friend  of  the  Federal  Courts,  yet  ever 
insistent  that  they  should  be  kept  within  their  constitutional 
moorings,  in  his  declining  years  he  was  personally  profoundly 
gratified  (as  I  happen  to  know)  that  this  historic  court  was 
under  the  judicial  and  judicious  guidance  of  Judges  Brewer, 
Caldwell,  Sanborn,  Thayer  and  Adams.  As  a  patriot,  the  old 
man  was  proud  of  and  loved  his  country;  as  the  Nestor  of  the 
bar,  he  respected,  honored  and  was  proud  of  her  judges.  His 
relations  to  this  court  and  its  bar  were  entirely  kindred  to 
those  he  bore  to  the  bench  and  bar  of  this  State  and  of 
adjoining  States  and  of  the  Union. 

Broadhead  ever  stood  for  the  supremacy  of  the  law. 

He  once  said  :— 

' '  The  fabric  of  civilized  society  is  supported  by  the  pillars 
of  the  law,"  and  that  laws  "  should  be  founded  on  the  princi- 
ples of  eternal  justice  as  dictated  by  the  consciences  of  men 
chastened  and  strengthened  by  the  precepts  of  the  divine  law." 

And  further  that  "  the  subversion  of  the  law  in  any  case, 
except  where  its  enactments  become  so  universally  burdensome 


as  to  justify  revolution,  takes  away  from  every  individual  the 
only  security  he  has  for  the  protection  of  his  rights  of  person 
or  property. ' ' 

While  steadfastly  upholding  the  majesty  of  the  law  and 
the  authority  of  the  courts,  he  also  boldly  stood  for  the  rights 
of  the  bar,  especially  of  those  lawyers  who  bear  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  everyday  work  of  our  profession. 

Speaking  of  them  (and  his  words  have  a  Baconian  flavor) 
he  said  : — 

' '  The  school  of  the  practicing  lawyer  enables  him  to 
' '  acquire  a  practical  acquaintance  with  human  nature  in  all  its 
' '  multiplied  phases.  He  may  learn  what  weaknesses  may  be 
"pardoned;  what  excess  of  passion  may  be  condoned.  He 
' '  may  learn  that  there  are  in  most  instances  two  sides  to  every 
"case.  How  apparent  violations  of  right  maybe  explained. 
' '  How  little  difference  there  is  in  the  great  mass  of  human 
"beings,  and  what  are  the  secret  springs  of  human  actions 
"  which  are  hidden  from  the  outside  world,  and  he  is,  there- 
"  fore,  less  disposed  to  form  a  rash  judgment  of  human  actions. 
' '  It  belongs  to  the  members  of  the  legal  profession  to  study 
' '  the  rights  of  individuals  in  their  various  relations  to  each 
' '  other  and  to  the  State,  and  to  see  that  they  are  secured  by  a 
"  just  administration  of  the  law.  To  do  this  demands  as  well 
"  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence,  as 
"  taught  by  the  masters  of  the  profession,  the  special  enact- 
"  ments  of  legislators,  and  the  origin  of  the  customs  which 
"  have  ripened  into  laws  by  the  judgment  of  competent  tribu- 
"  nals,  not,  however,  by  too  much  reading,  but  by  much  reflec- 
' '  tion  and  reasoning  upon  what  the  law  should  be  in  a  given 
' '  case,  as  also  the  relations  of  the  different  members  of  society 
"  to  each  other,  the  various  industries  which  become  subjects 
' '  of  contracts,  the  products  of  human  genius  which  in  the 


"  progress  of  a  rapid  civilization  have  developed  new  industries, 
"and  to  what  extent  they  have  changed  former  conditions, 
' '  and  in  all  legal  controversies  in  which  they  may  be  concerned 
' '  to  make  a  fair  and  honest  presentation  of  the  law  and  the 
"  facts  before  the  court,  and  above  all  things  to  avoid  the  stir- 
"  ring  up  of  litigation,  and  when  consulted  by  a  client  to 
"counsel  the  settlement  of  a  controversy  without  litigation  if 
"  it  is  deemed  advisable  to  do  so,  and,  under  all  circumstances, 
"  as  an  officer  of  the  court,  to  have  the  courage  to  defend  the 
"  right,  however  it  may  be  assailed,  whether  by  the  voice  of 
' '  the  multitude  or  the  despotism  of  a  single  individual  clothed 
' '  with  official  power. ' ' 

In  the  broadest  sense  Broadhead  was  a  large  man.  How 
often  we  who  knew  him  best  have  involuntarily  spoken  of  him 
as  "  the  grand  old  man,"  thus  applying  to  him  a  phrase  that 
the  world  seems  to  have  reserved  exclusively  for  England's 
great  commoner.  He  was  of  the  type  and  mould  mentally  and 
physically  of  such  men  as  Benton,  Bates  and  Browning.  It  is 
not  exageration  to  compare  him  favorably  with  men  of  higher 
renown  and  wider  fame.  Men  may  be  great  and  good  without 
playing  their  life's  drama  on  the  widest  stage.  In  contemplat- 
ing Broadhead  when  he  was  with  us,  and  in  estimating  him 
since  he  has  passed  away  we  were  and  are  ever  confronted  with 
the  thought  of  what  he  might  have  been,  without  underestimat- 
ing what  he  was.  This  is  especially  true  in  viewing  him  from 
the  standpoint  of  a  public  official.  Every  station  he  held  in 
public  life,  whether  in  our  State  Legislatures  or  our  Constitu- 
tional Conventions,  in  our  Bar  Associations,  in  military  or  civil 
place,  in  Congress  or  in  the  diplomatic  service,  he  filled  with 
honor,  grace,  dignity,  ability  and  usefulness.  It  is  part  of  the 
unwritten  history  of  the  past  that  had  Tilden  been  installed  as 
President,  Broadhead  would  have  been  invited  to  the  cabinet. 


Does  anyone  doubt  he  would  have  made  a  great  Minister  of 
State,  whether  as  Attorney  General  or  in  any  of  the  secretary- 
ships ?  Would  not  his  elevation  to  the  bench,  State  or  national, 
at  any  time  before  old  age  overtook  him,  have  been  welcomed 
with  universal  approval  ?  He  was  the  stature  of  a  Chief  Justice, 
American  or  English.  As  Senator  in  Congress  he  would  have 
stood  in  the  front  rank  as  easily  as  he  did  stand  in  the  front 
rank  at  the  bar.  If  he  had  been  sent  as  Minister  to  England 
instead  of  Switzerland  he  would  have  discharged  the  duties  of 
that  important  post  to  the  satisfaction  of  all.  If  the  suffrages 
of  his  countrymen  had  called  him  to  the  presidency  of  the 
nation  he  would  have  been  found  fully  equipped,  and  would 
have  administered  that  high  office  with  as  much  fidelity,  ability 
and  success  as  he  did  the  early  offices  conferred  upon  him  by 
his  beloved  constituency  of  old  Pike,  or  the  later  ones  which  he 
held  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  people  of  the  City  of 
St.  Louis  and  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation. 

But  why  talk  about  what  he  might  have  been  when  we 
know  what  he  was.  He  could  have  held  no  offices,  however 
high,  but  his  strong  and  striking  individuality  and  his  impres- 
sive personality  would  have  overshadowed  them  all.  I  doubt 
whether  our  people  could  ever  have  habituated  themselves  to 
calling  him  by  an  official  title,  at  least  out  of  his  presence  when 
unconstrained  by  conventionalities.  It  always  seemed  to  me 
that  they  were  hardly  willing  to  add  the  Southern  and  Western 
prefixes,  Colonel  or  Judge.  To  them  as  to  us  he  was  always 
Broadhead. 

We  love  to  dwell  upon  him  as  a  lawyer,  for  that  was  his 
life  vocation,  yet  we  cannot  disguise  the  fact  that  Broadhead 
the  man,  to  some  extent  obscured  Broadhead  the  lawyer.  It 
was  not  in  his  nature  to  be  a  strict  specialist.  His  active  busi- 
ness life  was  largely  passed  as  an  advocate  in  the  domain  of  the 


courts,  amid  contending  clients,  or  as  a  counselor  in  his  office 
settling  disputes  and  advising  as  to  rights  and  liabilities. 
There  were  periods  when  he  lived  and  acted  within  the  domaiti 
of  statesmanship.  At  all  times  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  all 
things  which  concerned  humanity.  Whatever  he  did  was  done 
so  easily  that  he  did  not  seem  to  labor.  His  weakness,  if  any, 
as  a  lawyer,  was  his  indifference  to  details.  This  resulted 
largely  from  his  ability  to  apply  general  principles  and  to  solve 
questions  upon  necessarily  undisputed  facts.  His  power  of 
generalization  was  marvelous.  Gen.  Henderson  once  told  me, 
speaking  of  the  time  when  he  and  Broadhead  were  rival 
practitioners  at  the  Pike  County  Bar,  that  early  in  the  contest 
he  had  to  give  up  all  hope  of  ever  surprising  or  beating  Broad- 
head  upon  questions  of  law,  and  that  when  he  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  prevail  in  a  law  suit  he  could  always  trace  back  the  result 
to  his  own  careful  preparation  of  the  facts  of  the  case  and  the 
absence  of  that  preparation  on  Broadhead' s  part. 

I  have  been  told  that  Samuel  T.  Glover,  when  once  asked 
his  estimate  of  Broadhead,  replied  in  his  sententious  way:  "A 
great  lawyer  ;  a  great  man.  A  very  great  lawyer  ;  a  very 
great  man — when  awake." 

There  was  nothing  about  Broadhead  that  so  much 
impressed  others  as  what  might  be  called  his  reserve  power, 
which  he  possessed  in  a  marked  degree,  as  did  Webster. 

Broadhead  always  took  an  active  interest  in  public  and 
political  questions.  He  belonged  in  his  early  life  to  the  old 
Whig  party,  and  his  attachment  to  it  was  so  strong  that  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  he  would  ever  have  bolted  its  platform 
or  its  nominees.  He  was  not  as  federalistic  in  his  views  as 
Marshall  or  Hamilton.  He  was  not  as  radically  democratic  as 
Jefferson  nor  as  fiercely  democratic  as  Jackson.  His  views 
were  rather  the  composite  of  those  of  Madison  and  Webster. 


He  was  the  antipodes  of  Calhoun.  As  a  son  of  Virginia,  he 
was  not  wanting  in  filial  devotion,  yet  he  believed  so  strongly 
in  an  indestructible  union  of  indestructible  States  that  had  he 
lived  there  in  1861  he  would  not  have  believed  with  Gen.  Robert 
E.  Lee  that  his  first  allegiance  was  to  his  State.  He  pro- 
foundly believed  in  the  wisdom  of  the  results  which  followed 
debate  and  contention  in  the  courts,  in  constitutional  conven- 
tions and  in  legislative  bodies.  He  did  not  have  the  highest 
confidence  in  the  conclusions  of  a  primary,  a  caucus  or  a  politi- 
cal convention.  As  a  Senator  of  Rome  in  its  palmiest  days  he 
would  largly  have  influenced  and  controlled  the  policy  of  the 
Republic,  yet  I  doubt  whether  he  could  have  moulded  to  his 
will  the  fierce  democracy  of  Athens.  He  had  great  respect  for 
the  verdict  of  the  people  at  the  polls.  His  theory  evidently 
was  to  respect  conclusions  arrived  at  after  both  sides  had  been 
heard.  He  was  not  quite  an  optimist,  not  a  pessimist,  nor  was 
he  an  opportunist,  he  was  the  embodiment  of  conservatism. 
He  rather  grew  restive  under  the  restraint  of  party  rule,  and 
' '  independence  was  one  of  his  fluttering  plumes. ' ' 

He  could  not  bring  himself  to  believe  as  strongly  as  some 
do  that  for  a  strong  man  with  the  capacity  for  political  leader- 
ship unvarying  allegiance  to  the  party  nearest  representing 
his  views  is,  in  a  Republic  like  ours,  the  most  practical  way  to 
promote  the  country's  welfare. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  of  his  domestic  relations  ;  as  a 
son,  brother,  husband,  father,  he  was  nearly  ideal,  and  to  his 
kinsmen,  to  the  remotest  degree  he  was  not  unlike  a  massive 
live  oak,  with  capacious  branches  sheltering  and  protecting 
them  from  heat  and  storm. 

Wherever  Broadhead  was  there  was  sunshine,  not  clouds. 
What  shall  I  say  of  his  good  comradeship?  Or  shall  I  tres- 
pass on  those  grounds?  What  of  the  Attic  hours?  When 


surrounded  by  his  familiars  and  his  friends,  how  did  he  bear 
himself?  Not  like  Dr.  Johnson,  the  rugged  old  bear  who  made 
famous  the  London  taverns  by  doing  all  the  talking,  and  doing 
it  so  marvelously  well.  On  such  occasions  Broadhead  was  not 
a  raging  conflagration,  but  rather  the  gentle  and  healthy  glow 
of  the  hospitable  fireside.  He  did  not,  like  poor  Yorick,  "  pour 
a  pint  of  Rhenish  on  your  head  ;"  nor  was  his  the  wild,  rollick- 
ing fun  of  Dickens  or  Eugene  Field,  but  rather  the  genial  humor 
and  abounding  pleasantries  of  Thackeray  and  Irving.  Rich  in 
literary  attainments,  full  of  poetry  and  sentiment,  overflowing 
with  classic  and  historic  lore;  there  never  was  a  more  charming 
companion.  That  it  was  a  positive  pleasure  for  him  to  receive 
the  strokes  of  humor,  and  the  shafts  of  wit  and  sarcasm  and 
badinage  from  his  friends  rather  than  to  strike  the  blow  or 
draw  the  bow  himself  could  have  been  attested  by  the  Knapps, 
Lindley  and  Hyde,  and  can  be  confirmed  by  Henderson,  Vest, 
Philips,  Dyer,  Henry,  Prather,  Francis,  Priest,  Ellerbe,  Frost, 
and  others. 

Broadhead  had  a  deeply  religious  nature,  and  it  was  only 
needed  to  have  heard  him  reverently  speak  the  words  (as  he 
often  did)  "  Divine  Justice."  "  Divine  Master,"  or  "  the  Savior 
of  the  world,"  or  "the  providence  of  God"  to  find  out  this 
attribute  of  his  character.  He  devoutly  believed  in  ' '  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man." 

His  life  was  no  failure  but  a  crowning  success.  He  lived 
nearly  four  score  years.  He  was  ever  blessed  with  a  "  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body."  He  held  communion  with  the  good, 
the  strong,  the  wise  and  with  the  brave,  the  tender,  the  true, 
and  with  the  poor  and  the  unfortunate  of  his  generations,  and 
by  much  reading  with  those  of  former  times  and  distant 
countries.  Compare  him  with  his  contemporaries,  old  or  young, 
those  gone  before  or  left  behind,  and  who  was  superior  to  him  ? 


In  whom  were  all  the  elements  so  blended  ?  And  of  those  left 
who  towers  above  him  ? 

Let  me  reiterate  in  estimating  him  we  must  not  fall  into 
the  error  of  comparing  him  with  himself. 

His  simplicity  was  such  that  a  child  might  lead  him,  yet 
his  courage  such  the  strongest  could  not  daunt  him.  When 
aroused  he  had  much  of  the  lion  in  him  ;  none  of  the  fox  or 
the  wolf.  His  life  was  mostly  bright,  and  such  sorrows  as 
touched  him  he  met  in  philosophic  spirit  and  with  Christian 
fortitude  and  resignation.  No  one  ever  had  a  sunnier  disposi- 
tion. His  goodly  face  was  a  benediction.  Calmly  and  joyfully 
he  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  yet,  at  all  times,  as 
Tennyson  said  of  Wellington,  "as  the  greatest  only  are,  in 
his  simplicity  sublime." 

He  was  not  unlike  the  Mississippi  on  whose  banks  he 
dwelt,  and  which  moves  steadily  on,  sometimes  at  a  lower  and 
sometimes  a  higher  stage,  anon  bursting  its  bounds  and  fertiliz- 
ing all  it  touches,  then  returning  to  its  channel  continues  its 
majestic  march  to  the  sea. 

He  gloried  in  nature,  its  mountains,  lakes,  plains,  rivers, 
oceans  and  the  overarching  firmament.  He  found  "tongues 
in  trees,  books  in  running  brooks  ;  sermons  in  stones  and  good 
in  everything." 

When  the  history  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived  shall 
come  to  be  written  by  the  impartial  historian  it  will  be  found 
that  Broadhead  left  a  permanent  imprint,  and  his  services  to 
the  American  bench  and  bar  will  be  recounted  ;  and  it  will 
appear  that  he  had  very  much  to  do  in  moulding  our  laws, 
constitutional,  legislative  and  judicial,  and  shaping  the  destiny 
of  our  great  Commonwealth  and  materially  contributed  to  the 
preservation  of  our  Union  of  States. 

68 


As  I  stand  in  this  presence  at  the  conclusion  of  my  brief 
part  in  this  ceremonial  and  think  of  my  dear  departed  friend, 
the  pathetic  words  of  Hamlet  crowd  upon  me  : 

"  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
I  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again." 

Yet  I  am  consoled,  as  we  all  must  be,  that  his  going  was 
in  the  order  of  nature  ;  not  an  untimely  taking  off.  The 
harvest  time  came  and  he  was  found  ' '  in  the  sere  and  yellow 
leaf, ' '  and  gathered  to  his  fathers.  His  great  soul  has  returned 
to  its  Maker.  His  memory  we  retain  as  among  our  most 
precious  treasures,  and  the  collective  estimate  of  the  St.  Louis 
Bar  is  expressed  in  the  memorial  which  now  I  commit  to  the 
care  of  the  court. 


RESPONSE  OF  JUDGE  E.  B.  ADAMS. 

JT  IS  with  profound  emotion  that  I  have  listened  to  the 
very  excellent  and  just  eulogy  which  you  have  pro- 
nounced in  presenting  the  memorial  of  the  St.  Louis 
Bar,  upon  the  life  and  character  of  our  departed  brother  and 
friend. 

This  court,  in  times  past  when  brother  Broadhead  was  at 
the  zenith  of  his  power  and  usefulness,  was  his  favorite  tribu- 
nal. His  voice  was  often  here  raised  in  the  cause  of  justice. 
Many  of  his  most  brilliant  successes  were  here  achieved  and  the 
files  and  records  of  this  court  stand  as  permanent  and  enduring 
monuments  to  his  great  learning  and  ability.  While,  since 
my  personal  incumbency  of  this  office,  his  foreign  residence 
and  enfeebled  health  have  prevented  his  frequent  appearance 
here,  I  know  from  my  general  familiarity  with  the  history  of 
this  court,  as  well  as  from  the  uniform  testimony  of  my  dis- 
tinguished predecessors,  that  no  man  of  all  the  illustrious 
members  of  this  bar,  past  or  present,  has  ever  impressed  the 
court  with  more  confidence  in  his  integrity,  ability  or  learning, 
than  brother  Broadhead. 

His  methods  were  always  simple,  direct  and  honest,  and 
therefore  of  necessity  powerful  and  effective.  His  habit  was 
to  deal  with  and  invoke  the  great  underlying  principles  of  right 
and  justice,  with  whom  no  man  of  my  acquaintance  possessed 
a  keener  and  more  accurate  appreciation.  As  a  result  of  such 
methods,  supplemented  by  reinforcing  authority  with  which  he 
was  also  very  familiar,  his  arguments  were  always  strong  and 


cogent  and  his  conclusions  driven  home  with  great  clearness 
and  power.  He  was  a  great  lawyer,  known  and  appreciated 
not  only  at  this,  his  home  bar,  but  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land. 

He  was  an  ornament  to  his  chosen  profession,  and  as  a 
member  of  this  bar,  a  great  honor  to  this  court. 

With  sadness  and  grief  for  his  departure  I  consent  to  the 
inevitable  necessity,  while  permitting  the  records  of  this  court 
to  memorialize  his  life,  to  permit  them  also  to  announce  and 
record  his  death. 


71 


ADDRESS  OF  HON.  G.  A.  FINKELNBURG  IN 

PRESENTING  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  THE 

ST.  LOUIS  BAR  TO  THE  UNITED 

STATES  COURT  OF  APPEALS. 

JANUARY  9,  1899. 

IF  YOUR  HONORS  PLEASE  : 

SOMETIME  ago  the  members  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar  met 
and  took  action  on  the  death  of  Col.  James  O.  Broadhead, 
and  I  have  been  requested  to  present  to  this  Honorable 
Court  a  memorial  on  the  deceased,  adopted  by  that  meeting,  and 
to  ask  that  it  may  be  incorporated  in  the  records  of  this  court. 

The  brotherhood  of  lawyers  always  assembles  with  feelings 
of  sincere  regret  when  an  esteemed  member  has  passed  beyond 
the  living  association  ;  but  in  this  instance  there  has  been  a 
marked  disposition  to  linger  longer  than  usual  over  the  rem- 
iniscences of  the  departed  brother  and  to  emphasize  the  loss  — 
the  great  loss  —  which  our  bar  has  sustained. 

In  the  death  of  James  Overton  Broadhead  the  country  has 
lost  one  of  those  highly  gifted  lawyers  who  have  given  strength, 
character  and  influence  to  the  American  bar  during  the  last 
fifty  years,  and  a  lawyer  whose  intellectual  activity  extended 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  ordinary  professional  practice  into 
the  broader  fields  of  constitutional  and  international  law, 
statesmanship  and  foreign  relations.  He  was  a  man  of 
extraordinary  capacity. 


Two  things  are  necessar}-  to  make  a  marked  career : 
natural  endowments  and  occasions  to  call  them  forth.  There 
were  several  events  in  the  life  of  Col.  Broadhead  which  gave 
direction  and  impetus  to  his  natural  abilities.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  two  Constitutional  Conventions  in  this  State.  This 
experience,  together  with  a  remarkable  adaptation  to  the  con- 
sideration of  broad  fundamental  questions  which  he  grasped 
and  handled  with  masterly  vigor  and  discernment,  brought  him 
into  great  prominence  as  a  constitutional  lawyer,  so  that  his 
opinions  and  arguments  on  constitutional  and  kindred  ques- 
tions of  public  law  become  a  prominent  feature  in  the  judicial 
history  of  our  State. 

Col.  Broadhead  was  twice  appointed  to  positions  of  a  diplo- 
matic nature  in  which  questions  of  international  law  became 
the  object  of  his  attention,  and  here  again  he  demonstrated  his 
ability  to  grasp  and  apply  the  rules  which  pertain  to  this  higher 
branch  of  jurisprudence,  rules  which  are  said  to  draw  their 
inspiration  directly  from  the  law  of  nature. 

During  the  late  Civil  war  Col.  Broadhead  was  one  of  the 
chief  advisers  of  the  Federal  Government  in  all  affairs  pertain- 
ing to  the  military  occupation  and  government  of  Missouri  ;  in 
this  position,  as  well  as  in  his  subsequent  career  in  Congress, 
his  course  was  of  that  enlightened,  firm  but  conservative 
character  which  mark  the  conduct  of  a  statesman. 

In  all  these  spheres  Col.  Broadhead  rose  far  above  the 
common  level  of  human  capacity,  judgment  and  foresight  ; 
but  after  all  I  think  it  was  in  the  court  room  that  he 
was  strongest,  and  it  was  when  thoroughly  aroused  in  a 
case  of  importance  that  his  oral  arguments  were  so  convincing 
in  their  reasoning  and  so  forcible  in  their  expression  as  to 
remind  one  of  the  great  names  which  have  graced  forensic 
oratory  in  the  history  of  the  English  and  American  bar. 


It  is  undoubtedly  true,  as  the  memorial  says,  that  much  of 
his  professional  success  was  due  to  the  fact  that  every  tribunal 
before  which  he  appeared  became  immediately  impressed  with 
his  perfect  candor  and  honesty  ;  that  his  face,  his  manner,  his 
whole  bearing  throughout  the  case  carried  conviction  of  a  pur- 
pose to  present  the  issues  with  absolute  fairness,  and  because 
he  believed  in  the  words  used  by  himself  in  a  public  address 
that,  "  No  man  without  an  upright  mind,  and  no  man  who  has 
not  preserved  his  integrity,  has  ever  died  leaving  the  reputation 
of  a  great  lawyer. ' ' 

As  a  lawyer  and  a  citizen  Col.  Broadhead  was  a  tower  of 
.strength  ;  as  a  man  he  was  kind  and  gentle,  full  of  generous 
sympathy  and  open-handed  almost  to  a  fault.  It  is  said  that 
no  one  in  distress  ever  appealed  to  him  in  vain.  Take  him  all 
in  all  he  represented  the  noblest  type  of  American  manhood. 

And  now  that  he  has  departed  for  the  unknown  and  silent 
shore  we,  his  brother  lawyers,  feel  like  calling  after  him, 
Adieu  !  dear  friend,  you  have  nobly  done  your  part,  and  we 
who  survive  you  will  keep  your  memory  alive  as  long  as  life  is 
accorded  to  us. 

I  am  sure  that  your  Honors  upon  the  bench  are  in  accord 
with  the  members  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar  in  the  sentiments 
expressed  in  their  memorial  which  has  been  printed  and  which 
your  Honors  have  seen,  and  in  view  of  the  extensive  practice 
which  the  deceased  had  in  the  Federal  courts  I  now  ask  that 
this  memorial  may  by  your  order  be  spread  upon  the  records 
of  this  court. 


RESPONSE  OF  MR.  JUSTICE  THAYER. 

THE  memorial  of  the  bar  concerning  Colonel  Broadhead 
(supplemented  by  your  own  remarks,  Mr.  Finkelnburg) 
depicts  with  great  fidelity  and  rare  discrimination  those 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which,  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
maintained  the  deceased  in  the  front  rank  of  the  profession  in 
this  city  and  State,  and  endeared  him,  not  only  to  his  associates 
at  the  bar,  but  to  a  multitude  of  friends  outside  of  the  profes- 
sion. It  rarely  happens  that  a  death  occurrs  in  any  community 
which  affects  so  many  persons  with  a  sense  of  personal  loss  as 
the  death  of  Colonel  Broadhead.  He  was  a  man  of  great  intel- 
lectual vigor  and  capacity,  but  it  required  some  occasion  or 
circumstance  which  stirred  his  emotions  to  call  his  best  powers 
into  action.  As  a  lawyer  he  took  little  interest  in  the  ordinary 
controversies  between  individuals,  such  as  daily  occur  in  the 
courts,  and  at  times  his  lack  of  zeal  seemed  to  be  neglectful  of 
the  interests  of  his  client.  On  such  occasions  his  attitude 
before  the  court  was  one  of  apparent  regret  that  rational  human 
beings  would  indulge  in  a  dispute  about  trifles  ;  but  if  his  feel- 
ings were  aroused  by  any  act  of  wrong  or  oppression,  or  if  the 
controversy  touched  any  of  the  more  fundamental  principles  of 
the  law  on  which  human  rights  or  political  institutions  are 
founded  —  the  listless  attorney  at  once  became  the  zealous, 
profound  and  able  advocate. 

Colonel  Broadhead' s  tastes,  as  has  been  truly  suggested, 
led  him  naturally  into  the  domain  of  constitutional  and  inter- 
national law,  and  to  the  study  of  many  questions  of  a  political 
and  economic  character  which  do  not  always  engage  the  atten- 
tion of  active  practitioners.  All  subjects  which  in  any  way 
affected  the  welfare  of  states  or  communities  interested  him  far 
more  than  the  transient  concerns  of  individuals.  In  his  early 


life  he  had  breathed  an  atmosphere  which  inspired  him  with  a 
deep  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  with  a  strong  love  of  free 
institutions,  and  throughout  his  long  career  at  the  bar  he 
studied  with  an  interest  that  never  flagged,  the  origin  and 
evolution  of  those  Constitutional  guaranties  on  which  the  rights 
of  the  individual  and  the  welfare  of  states,  in  the  main,  depend. 
Although  he  lived  during  the  period  when  the  commercial 
spirit  of  the  present  day  seems  to  have  had  its  origin  and  was 
widely  prevalent  among  all  classes  and  professions,  yet  he  never 
caught  the  infection  and  wras  singularly  free  from  its  influence. 
He  devoted  much  time  and  talent  to  the  study  of  public  ques- 
tions and  to  the  accomplishment  of  public  objects,  which  a  more 
worldly-minded  person  would  have  devoted  to  the  betterment 
of  his  private  fortune.  He  found  no  pleasure  and  apparently 
took  no  interest  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth. 

Colonel  Broadhead  was  a  man  of  great  mental  honesty. 
He  seemed  to  be  incapable  of  practicing  any  deception  upon 
himself  or  others.  In  the  course  of  more  than  twenty  years  of 
intimate  acquaintance  with  him  at  the  bar,  I  never  heard  him 
attempt  to  distort  a  legal  principle,  or  to  justify  an  act  which 
an  enlightened  conscience  would  not  approve.  Neither  the 
dictates  of  self-interest  nor  attachment  to  party  ever  swerved 
Colonel  Broadhead  a  hair's  breadth  from  that  line  of  conduct 
which  his  conscience  and  judgment  approved.  He  believed, 
and  always  acted  in  accordance  with  the  belief,  that  it  was 
better  to  be  right  than  to  be  successful,  and  that  the  political 
fortunes  of  an  individual  were  of  no  concern  to  the  public,  and 
of  little  importance  to  himself. 

He  had  great  influence  with  all  courts  before  which  he 
was  a  practitioner,  and  the  main  element  of  his  strength  lay  in 
the  confidence  which  he  inspired  that  the  controlling  issues  of 
the  case  would  be  clearly  and  accurately  stated  ;  that  the  law 


would  be  expounded  as  he  believed  it  to  be  ;  that  he  would 
indulge  in  no  sophistry  or  casuistry,  and  would  dig  no  pitfalls, 
either  for  the  court  or  for  his  adversary. 

Colonel  Broadhead  was  a  man  who  harbored  no  animosities 
and  treasured  up  no  resentments  against  his  fellow-men.  The 
natural  impulses  of  his  heart  led  him  to  take  a  charitable  view 
and  to  be  a  lenient  judge  of  the  faults  and  mistakes  of  others. 
True  to  the  instincts  of  a  generous  nature,  when  the  Civil  war 
ended,  in  which  he  had  borne  an  honorable  part,  he  pleaded 
with  great  earnestness  against  many  of  the  proposed  measures 
of  the  Reconstruction  Period,  which  he  believed  to  be  arbitrary 
and  ill  advised ;  for  the  restoration  to  the  Union  of  the  Southern 
States,  with  all  of  their  political  rights,  and  for  a  general 
amnesty  for  all  political  offenses. 

Allusion  has  been  made  in  the  memorial,  and  without  it 
the  picture  would  have  been  incomplete,  to  the  lovable  personal 
qualities  of  the  man — to  the  simplicity  of  his  character ;  to  the 
artlessness  of  his  disposition  which  suspected  no  guile,  and  to 
that  indefinable  influence,  the  outgrowth  of  a  kind  heart  and  a 
generous  nature,  which  inspired  all  of  his  associates  at  the  bar 
with  a  feeling  akin  to  love  and  veneration.  It  is  a  pleasure  to 
pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  such  a  man,  and  to  do  what  we  may 
to  perpetuate  his  memory.  We  can  admire  his  intellectual 
powers,  which  were  far  above  the  average  ;  we  can  treasure  the 
recollection  of  his  many  kind  acts  and  generous  impulses  ;  and 
above  all,  we  can  point  with  pride  to  the  great  integrity  of  his 
character  and  to  the  high  purpose  which  inspired  his  public 
acts  and  private  conduct.  Such  men  as  Colonel  Broadhead  are 
an  honor  to  the  profession  to  which  they  belong,  and  a  blessing 
to  the  communities  in  which  their  lives  have  been  spent. 

It  will  accordingly  be  ordered  that  the  Resolutions  of  the 
Bar  be  spread  at  length  upon  our  records. 


ADDRESS  OF  HENRY  HITCHCOCK,  ESQ.,  IN 
PRESENTING  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  THE 
ST.  LOUIS  BAR  TO  THE  SUPREME 
COURT  OF  MISSOURI. 

JANUARY  24,  J899. 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  HONORS  : 

RESPECTFULLY  present  to  the  court,  at  the  request 


'  of  my  brethren  of  the  bar  of  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  a 

memorial  of  the  late  James  Overton  Broadhead,  who 
departed  this  life  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  on  the  seventh  day 
of  August,  1898,  soon  after  completing  his  seventy-ninth  year. 

On  August  ninth,  at  a  largely  attended  meeting  of  that 
bar,  a  Committee  of  Nine  was  appointed  to  prepare  and  report 
to  an  adjourned  meeting  a  suitable  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
one  so  greatly  honored  and  beloved  by  his  professional  brethren. 
On  November  twelfth  their  report  was  presented  and  was 
unanimously  adopted.  I  deem  it  a  privilege  to  submit  to  your 
Honors,  on  their  behalf,  this  memorial  of  one  who  for  more 
than  fifty  years  was  a  member  of  the  bar  of  this  court, 
distinguished  alike  by  his  eminent  professional  ability  and 
reputation,  and  by  his  exalted  personal  character. 

In  fulfilling  that  duty  it  is  not  needful  that  I  should  recount 
to  your  Honors  in  detail  the  events  of  that  long  and  honorable 
life,  or  the  many  and  important  services  which  he  rendered  at 
the  call  of  his  fellow-citizens  of  Missouri  and  of  the  national 
government.  The  story  of  that  life  is  briefly  but  admirably 


told  in  this  memorial.  Those  services  are  writ  large  in  the 
public  records  of  this  Common  wealth,  and  of  its  chief  city,  whose 
fundamental  and  organic  laws  he  largely  contributed  to  frame, 
and  in  the  chronicles  of  the  nation,  as  well  during  those  sad 
and  anxious  days  of  civil  strife-  as  in  later  times  of  reunion, 
prosperity  and  peace.  And  how  warmly  the  memory,  not  only 
of  his  public  services,  but  of  the  intellectual  power,  the  moral 
worth  and  the  attractive  personal  traits  of  the  man,  is  cherished 
in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens,  is  attested  by  the  spontaneous 
tributes  in  which  they  have  recalled  his  early  struggles,  his 
life- long  labors,  the  learning,  ability  and  virtue  which  adorned 
and  the  honors  which  rewarded  them.  Seldom  indeed  has  a 
more  significant  and  touching  tribute  been  rendered  to  any 
man  than  that  which  was  paid  to  his  memory  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  November  last,  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of 
Pike  County,  where  his  early  manhood  was  passed,  his  profes- 
sional career  begun  and  his  first  public  duties  undertaken.  The 
forty  years  which  had  elapsed  since  he  sought  a  wider  field  of 
usefulness  had  not  sundered  those  early  ties  of  mutual  confi- 
dence and  affection,  and  the  representatives  of  two  generations 
joined  in  honoring  one  who  in  ripe  manhood  and  in  venerable 
age  had  nobly  fulfilled  the  promise  of  his  youth. 

This  memorial  also  briefly  depicts,  in  a  manner  at  once 
felicitous  and  just,  the  professional  character  and  career  of  him 
whom  we  lament.  Extending  unbroken  through  a  period  the 
length  of  which  betokened  uncommon  vigor  of  mind  and  body, 
preserved  by  temperate  habits  and  a  pure  and  wholesome  life, 
that  career  fulfilled  the  highest  conditions  of  professional  dis- 
tinction and  success  —  integrity,  intellectual  power,  learning 
and  faithfulness  to  trust.  How  great  and  precious  were  his 
gifts,  with  what  zeal  and  fidelity  they  were  employed,  I  need 
not  remind  your  Honors,  before  whom  and  your  predecessors, 


during  the  half-century  now  drawing  to  a  close,  he  so  often  and 
so  ably  asserted  or  defended  the  rights  and  liberties  of  which 
this  supreme  tribunal  is  the  guardian  under  the  Constitution. 
Admitted  to  the  bar  in  1842,  Mr.  Broadhead's  name  first 
appears  in  this  court  in  1847,  in  the  tenth  volume  of  the  Missouri 
Reports,  and  thereafter  during  more  than  fifty  years,  in  more 
than  one  hundred  subsequent  volumes,  with  a  frequency 
approached  by  very  few,  and  surpassed,  I  think,  by  none,  of 
his  contemporaries.  But  it  was  the  quality,  not  the  quantity, 
of  his  work  which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  the  bar  of 
Missouri  and  established  for  him  a  national  reputation.  Of 
the  immense  variety  of  cases  in  which  his  counsel  and  advocacy 
were  sought,  those  were  most  congenial  to  his  mind,  and  dis- 
played his  powers  and  resources  to  the  greatest  advantage, 
which  involved  the  discussion  of  the  broad  principles  of  right 
and  justice  which  are  the  foundation  of  the  law.  For  to  him 
the  law  was  not  merely  an  arbitrary  rule  of  conduct,  finding  its 
sanction  only  in  superior  power.  It  must  justify  itself  by  right 
reason,  else  its  seat  were  not  "the  bosom  of  God,"  nor  "its 
voice  the  harmony  of  the  universe."  Instinctively,  therefore, 
he  sought  for  the  truth,  habitually  relying  upon  that  alone  for 
success.  And  to  this  singleness  of  mind,  to  the  integrity,  the 
simplicity,  which  was  the  keynote  alike  of  his  intellectual 
efforts  and  of  his  personal  character,  not  less  than  to  his  ability 
and  learning,  his  professional  eminence  and  success  were  due. 
The  clients  whom  he  advised,  and  the  jurors  whom  he  would 
persuade,  felt  that  they  could  trust  implicitly  the  sincerity  of 
his  purpose  and  the  absolute  truthfulness  of  his  statements  ; 
and  the  judge  or  court  whom  he  would  convince,  whether  con- 
curring or  not  in  his  conclusions,  equally  recognized  the 
uprightness  with  which,  as  an  officer  of  the  court,  he  sought  to 
aid  it  in  ascertaining  and  enforcing  the  very  truth  and  right. 


A  notable  illustration  of  this  is  mentioned  in  this  memorial,  as 
having  occurred  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
during  an  argument  by  him  which  involved  constitutional 
questions  of  the  highest  moment,  but  in  this  presence,  the 
statement  I  have  made  requires  no  confirmation. 

In  the  high  estimate  placed  by  his  brethren  upon  Mr. 
Broadhead's  forensic  ability  and  their  interesting  analysis  of 
his  intellectual  gifts  and  mental  habits,  I  feel  sure  that  your 
Honors  will  concur.  I  believe  it  to  be  true  that  the  members 
of  no  profession  are  habitually  judged  by  their  fellows  with 
greater  accuracy  than  those  of  our  own — and  equally  true  that 
in  none  are  favorable  judgments  more  cordially  rendered,  or 
the  supremacy  of  its  leaders  more  willingly  acknowledged. 
But  to  him  the  loving  tribute  of  our  admiration  was  paid  with 
a  peculiar  pleasure.  For,  while  his  integrity,  his  learning,  his 
forensic  power  and  skill  commanded  our  highest  respect,  in 
him  were  singularly  blended  the  qualities  of  strength  and 
gentleness,  of  unselfish  purpose,  absolutely  fearless  fidelity  to 
his  own  convictions  and  a  quick  and  intelligent  sympathy  for 
those  of  others. 

Nor  is  this  the  testimony  of  those  alone  for  whom  I  now 
speak.  I  take  pleasure  in  adding  to  it  that  of  a  former  honored 
member  of  this  court,  now  occupying  for  the  third  time  the 
Circuit  bench  of  Jackson  County,  whose  wide  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  bar  of  the  entire  State  during  fifty  years 
past  gives  to  it  a  peculiar  value. 

From  the  extremely  interesting  ' '  Personal  Recollections  ' ' 
contributed  by  Judge  Henry  to  the  history  of  the  Bench 
and  Bar  of  Missouri,  published  within  the  past  year,  I  quote 
the  following  mention  of  Colonel  Broadhead,  as  one  of  the 
acknowledged  leaders  of  the  bar,  based  upon  an  acquaintance 
begun  in  1847  : 

82 


"  Broadhead  was  then  a  young  man,  rapidly  reaching  the 
front  rank  of  lawyers,  and  leaving  Pike  County  he  located  in 
St.  Louis,  where  very  soon  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  at  that  bar.  He  is  a  man  of  remarkable  intel- 
lect, and  the  ablest  arguments  I  ever  heard  as  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  were  made  by  Colonel  Broadhead.  He  is  not 
only  learned  in  the  law,  but  is  a  scholarly,  cultured  man,  with- 
out a  particle  of  pedantry,  and  one  of  the  most  guileless  mortals 
I  ever  knew.  He  has  no  malice  or  envy  in  his  composition 
and  has  a  heart  full  of  kindness  for  mankind." 

To  that  history  Colonel  Broadhead  also  contributed  inter- 
esting reminiscences  of  half  a  century,  not  only  giving  due 
honor  to  the  giants  of  earlier  days,  but  sketching  with  kindly 
and  characteristic  humor  the  unconventional  conditions  of 
practice  in  the  country  circuit  in  which  his  professional  life 
began.  Others  whose  reputation,  like  his  own,  afterwards 
reached  its  zenith  at  the  St.  Louis  Bar — such  as  Gamble,  Bates, 
Glover,  Uriel  Wright,  Richardson,  and  others  —  also  received 
their  earlier  training  on  country  circuits,  and  doubtless  medi- 
tated their  first  causes  while  journeying  on  horseback  over  the 
broad  prairies  and  through  the  silent  woods  of  which  he  speaks. 
Such  training,  rough  but  genial,  could  not  fail  to  test  and 
strengthen  from  day  to  day  their  mental  thews  and  sinews.  It 
called  forth  in  sudden  conflict,  with  scant  preparation,  all  their 
resources  of  knowledge  and  native  wit,  and  compelled  them  to 
profounder  study  of  legal  principles,  the  knowledge  and  appli- 
cation of  which  distinguishes  the  jurist  from  the  case  lawyer. 

And  such  training  fitly  supplemented  the  associations  and 
traditions  of  Colonel  Broadhead 's  youth,  as  related  in  Mr. 
Kent's  admirable  address  at  the  commemorative  meeting 
already  mentioned.  Born  in  1819,  in  Charlottesville,  Virginia, 
at  a  time  when  many  of  those  who  founded  the  Republic  were 


still  living,  in  a  community  where  a  number  of  them  resided, 
and  in  part  educated  at  its  renowned  University,  among  his 
earliest  recollections  were  the  venerable  figures  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  of  James  Madison,  "The  Father  of  the  Constitution, ' ' 
whom  he  often  met  and  talked  with,  of  James  Monroe,  and 
their  friends  and  associates  of  earlier  days.  Imbibing  from 
such  men  the  traditions  of  patriotism,  philosophy  and  learning 
exemplified  in  their  illustrious  lives,  his  own  ideals  and  aims  in 
life  were  worthy  of  their  source.  We  know  with  what  fidelity 
he  maintained  those  ideals,  with  what  distinction  and  success 
he  pursued  those  aims.  But  while  we  honor  him  both  as  a 
great  lawyer  and  as  a  patriotic  citizen  and  servant  of  the 
State,  his  brethren  of  the  bar  honor  him  most  of  all  in  that  his 
professional  career  embodied  and  exemplified  the  truth  which 
this  memorial  repeats  in  his  own  words  : 

"  No  man  without  an  upright  mind,  no  man  who  has  not 
preserved  his  integrity,  has  ever  died  leaving  the  reputation  of 
a  great  lawyer. ' ' 


RESPONSE  OF  CHIEF  JUSTICE  GANTT. 

THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE  RESPONDED  AS  FOLLOWS  : 

THE  Court  most  cordially  responds  to  the  sentiments  of 
affection  and  admiration  for  our  deceased  brother  con- 
tained in  the  memorial  of  the  bar,  and  esteems  it  a  great 
privilege  to  spread  upon  the  records  of  this  court  this  last 
testimonial  of  those  who  knew  and  loved  Col.  Broadhead 
so  well. 

It  has  been  the  lot  of  few  men  to  impress  the  history  of  their 
times  with  their  own  individuality  to  a  greater  extent  than  he 
has  upon  Missouri.  The  memorial  is  most  fitting  in  that  it 
justly  discriminates  in  its  estimate  of  the  great  characteristics 
of  the  man.  Little  can  be  added  to  what  is  said  in  the  memorial. 
This  is  not  the  time  or  place  for  a  review  of  his  great  achieve- 
ments in  public  affairs. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  in  this  forum  he  shone  as  the  great 
lawyer  and  achieved  many  signal  triumphs  and  won  and  main- 
tained at  all  times  the  respect  and  admiration  of  the  court  and 
his  brethren  at  the  bar. 

We  fully  concur  in  the  sentiments  of  the  memorial  and 
thank  you,  Mr.  Hitchcock,  for  the  eloquent  words  in  which  you 
have  performed  this  sad  duty  for  one  of  your  contemporaries. 

To  the  young  men  of  my  generation  the  memory  of  the 
kindly  words,  the  genial  countenance  of  Col.  Broadhead  will 
always  remain  a  benison,  and  we  will  ever  cherish  his  memory 
as  the  friend  of  the  young  lawyers.  To  the  members  of  the 
country  bar  of  Missouri  it  is  and  will  always  be  a  source  of 


pride  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  great  career,  as  a 
country  lawyer,  and  we  will  always  claim  a  share  in  his 
fame. 

The  great  ability  of  Col.  Broadhead,  his  splendid  attain- 
ments, his  loyalty  to  his  profession,  and  his  fidelity  to  duty 
make  it  eminently  appropriate  that  a  fitting  memorial  of  his 
services  to  the  State  and  to  this  court  should  be  permanently 
inscribed  upon  our  records,  and  it  is  accordingly  ordered  that 
the  memorial  and  your  remarks,  Mr.  Hitchcock,  be  spread  at 
large  upon  the  records  of  this  day's  proceedings. 


86 


ADDRESS  OF  HON.  CHESTER  H.  KRUM  IN 

PRESENTING  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  THE 

ST.  LOUIS  BAR  TO  THE  CIRCUIT 

COURT  OF  THE  CITY  OF 

ST.  LOUIS. 

THE  indulgence  of  your  bar  has  commissioned  me  to 
present  to  your  Honors  their  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
James  O.  Broadhead.  Words  of  mine  cannot  add  to,  or 
make  more  appropriate,  the  heartfelt  eulogium  which  this 
tribute  evidences.  It  is  the  peaceful  ending  of  a  long  life, 
which  this  memorial  commemorates  —  a  life  not  alone  instruc- 
tive, by  way  of  precept  and  example,  but  one  of  honorable 
service  to  the  nation,  of  marked  significance  to  the  State,  and 
of  kindly  relations  and  honest  dealings  of  him  who  lived  it, 
with  his  fellow-men.  The  life,  so  fully  rounded  out  with 
plenitude  of  years,  tells  of  a  youth  of  sturdy  qualities,  which 
gave  promise  of  good  performance  in  days  to  come  ;  of  an  early 
manhood  of  studious,  honest  progress  towards  the  realization 
of  the  promises  of  youth  ;  of  a  beginner  in  the  law  to  whom 
straightforwardness  in  methods  and  purposes  was  no  less  a 
guiding  necessity  than  even  the  building  of  a  noble,  impressive 
structure  of  learning,  upon  the  broad,  substantial  foundation 
of  the  principles  of  the  law  ;  of  an  experienced  practitioner  of 
his  profession,  perhaps  not  as  alert  or  keen  as  some,  in  the 
ordinary  acceptation  of  legal  skill,  but  profound,  masterly, 
direct  and  sincere  ;  of  an  expounder  of  the  Constitutions  of  the 
nation  and  the  State,  of  renown  co-extensive  with  the  Union, 
and  the  peer  of  any  lawyer  at  any  American  bar  ;  of  an  active 


participant  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  State  and  the  nation  ; 
of  a  statesman  who  was  a  patriot  when  his  country  called  in 
hours  of  urgent  need,  who  was  true  to  the  mandates  of  the 
Constitution,  and  was  the  open,  unrelenting  foe  of  all  party 
subterfuges  intended  to  mislead,  where  they  professed  to  better 
the  people,  and  who,  though  honorably  ambitious,  would  have 
passed  his  days  in  mere  private  citizenship  rather  than  advance 
one  step  towards  office  as  the  consequence  of  guile,  treachery, 
false  pretense  or  dishonorable  political  artifice. 

The  life,  thus  rounded  out,  tells  even  more.  Not  merely 
were  honest  methods  followed  fearlessly  and  openly,  at  the  bar 
and  in  private  and  in  public  life,  but  there  went  with  that 
honesty  and  directness  in  purpose  and  in  act,  true  simplicity 
and  want  of  presumption  in  thought  and  in  manner  ;  a  kind, 
manly  consideration  for  the  opinions  of  others ;  an  open-hearted 
fondness  for  the  promptings  of  friendship  ;  the  most  unchange- 
able and  ever  abiding  charity  ;  a  pronounced  fearlessness  in 
the  exposure  of  chicanery  and  corruption,  in  private  life  or 
public  office,  and  an  unfaltering  observance  of  truth  and 
straightforwardness  in  all  of  his  dealings  with  his  fellow-men  ; 
so  that  not  merely  in  the  sum  and  substance  of  his  daily  life 
was  it  gentle,  but  the  elements  were  so  divinely  mixed  in  him, 
that  nature  might  stand  up  and  say  to  all  the  world,  "  This 
was  a  man." 

Yet,  your  Honors,  though  it  may  be  greatly  wise  to  talk 
with  these  past  hours,  ' '  And  ask  them  what  report  they  bore 
to  Heaven,"  how  soon  will  it  be,  that  the  life  of  this  Master,  at 
whose  feet  we  sat,  will  have  lost  its  force  even  by  way  of  example? 

Lawyers,  sirs,  live,  labor  and  for  the  most  part  are  soon 
forgotten.  After  them,  though  they  come  to  their  end  in  the 
ripeness  of  years  and  experience,  what  profit  their  quillets, 
their  cases  and  their  tenures?  They  may  have  apparently 


carried  their  names  full  high  advanced  into  the  temple  of  fame ; 
contemporaries  may  wonderingly  hope  —  forsitan  et  nostrum 
nomen  miscebitur  istis — yet  the  fame  is  mostly  evanescent — the 
present  sets  its  own  limitations,  and  in  days  to  come,  the  very 
Nestors  of  the  bar  are  often  lost  in  the  countless  multitude  of 
those  who  are  forgotten. 

Yet,  whatever  all  this  may  be,  in  general,  may  I  not  be 
indulged  in  the  hope  that  even  in  the  distant  future,  upon  some 
appropriate  commemerative  day,  the  honorable  deeds  and 
exemplary  qualities  of  him  whom  Missouri  now  immediately 
mourns,  but  whom  the  nation  no  less  honors,  will  be  recalled, 
even  as  Choate  invoked  the  past  to  give  again  to  him  the  never- 
to-be-forgotten  Webster  —  for  the  resplendent  greatness  of  the 
Son  of  New  Hampshire  does  not  so  far  outshine  the  massive, 
robust  mentality  of  the  Son  of  Virginia. 

"  Such  a  character,"  said  he,  "was  made  to  be  loved.  It 
was  loved.  Those  who  knew  and  saw  it  in  its  hour  of  calm, 
loved  him.  His  plain  neighbors  loved  him.  Educated  young 
men  loved  him.  The  ministers  of  the  gospel,  the  general 
intelligence  of  the  country,  the  masses  afar  off  loved  him. 
Every  year  they  came  nearer  and  nearer  to  him,  and,  as  they 
came  nearer,  they  loved  him  better  ;  they  heard  how  tender  the 
son  had  been,  the  husband,  the  brother,  the  father,  the  friend 
and  neighbor  ;  that  he  was  plain,  simple,  natural,  generous, 
hospitable  —  the  heart  larger  than  the  brain;  that  he  loved 
little  children  and  reverenced  God,  the  Scriptures,  the  Sabbath 
Day,  the  Constitution  and  the  law — and  their  hearts  clave  unto 
him." 

I  move,  your  Honors,  that  the  Memorial  of  the  Bar  be 
spread  upon  the  records  of  this  court  —  that  he  who  has  thus 
gone  before,  may  be  named  henceforth  softly,  as  the  household 
name  of  one  whom  God  hath  taken. 

89 


MEMORIAL  OF  THE  LOYAL  LEGION. 

DECEMBER  3,  J898. 

IN  the  death  of  James  Overton  Broadhead  the  members  of 
this  Commandery  mourn  not  only  the  loss  of  a  companion , 
than  whom  none  was  more  honored  and  beloved,  but  also, 
in  common  with  the  people  of  this  State,  of  a  citizen  whose 
long  life  was  distinguished  by  conspicuous  and  exceptionally 
important  public  service. 

Born  in  Charlottesville,  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  on 
May  29,  1819,  he  removed  to  Missouri  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
after  having  spent  a  year  at  the  University  at  Virginia.  Dur- 
ing the  next  three  years  he  was  employed  as  tutor  in  the  family 
of  Edward  Bates,  afterwards  Attorney  General  under  President 
Lincoln,  also  reading  law  under  the  guidance  of  that  eminent 
lawyer,  and  forming  a  mutual  friendship  which  lasted  through 
life.  In  1842  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  Pike  County, 
Missouri,  where  he  settled,  and  for  seventeen  3'ears  pursued  the 
practice  of  his  profession  with  constantly  increasing  success. 
How  rapidly  he  gained,  how  securely  he  held  the  public  confi- 
dence and  esteem,  was  shown  by  his  election,  in  1845,  to  the 
State  Constitutional  Convention  held  in  that  year  ;  in  1847  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  from  Pike  County  ;  and  to  the 
State  Senate  in  1851.  In  1859  he  removed  to  St.  Louis,  enter- 
ing upon  a  larger  field,  and  continuing  a  professional  career 
which  soon  won  for  him  a  national  reputation.  Thereafter  he 
resided  in  St.  Louis  until  his  death,  on  August  7,  1898,  shortly 

91 


after  the  close  of  his  seventy-ninth  year.  During  that  period, 
in  addition  to  the  labors  of  his  profession,  he  was  repeatedly 
called  upon  to  fulfill  important  public  trusts.  His  eminent 
ability,  and  the  marked  success  and  distinction  which  attended 
alike  his  professional  and  his  public  career,  have  been,  fitly 
commemorated,  not  only  in  the  loving  and  reverent  memorial 
adopted  by  his  brethren  of  the  St.  Louis  Bar,  but  in  the  impres- 
sive and  remarkable  tribute  to  his  memory  by  a  large  and 
representative  meeting  of  the  bar  and  citizens  of  Pike  County 
held  at  Bowling  Green,  Missouri,  on  the  28th  of  November 
last.  It  is  for  us  especially  to  recall  the  military  and  other 
public  services  he  rendered  in  connection  with  the  Civil  war. 

The  members  of  this  Commandery  whose  home  was  in  St. 
Louis  when  that  conflict  began,  still  vividly  remember  the 
intensely  excited  feeling  and  the  swift  and  stirring  events  which 
attended  its  outbreak.  Missouri,  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
of  the  so-called  border  States,  was  rent  by  the  passions  it 
aroused.  It  was  like  an  isthmus  upon  and  over  which  fiercely 
beat  the  angry  tides  of  opposing  oceans,  each  lashing  the  other 
into  greater  fury. 

The  secession  of  South  Carolina  in  December,  1860,  and  of 
Mississippi,  Florida,  Georgia,  Louisiana  and  Texas,  by  the  first 
of  February,  1861,  had  its  intended  effect,  in  the  phrase  of  that 
day,  to  "fire  the  Southern  heart."  On, January  21st  the  Mis- 
souri Legislature  passed  an  Act  calling  a  State  Convention, 
designed,  as  all  men  know,  to  force  similar  action  upon  the 
people  of  Missouri,  though  its  declared  purpose  was  the  adop- 
tion of  such  measures  as  the  convention  might  deem  to  be 
demanded  for  the  protection  of  the  State  and  the  vindication  of 
its  institutions.  A  few  months  later,  this  purposely  unlimited 
grant  of  the  sovereign  power  of  the  State  proved  fatal  to  the 
plans  of  its  authors. 


That  St.  Louis  was  not  a  secession  city  was  soon  demon- 
strated by  the  majority  of  six  thousand  votes  by  which,  at  the 
election  for  the  convention  held  on  February  18th,  the  fifteen 
delegates  on  the  Unconditional  Union  Ticket,  of  whom  James 
O.  Broadhead  was  one,  defeated  their  opponents  on  the  so-called 
Constitutional  Union  Ticket.  Nor  did  any  candidate  through- 
out the  State  venture  openly  to  advocate  secession.  But  so 
openly  defiant  were  the  secessionists  and  so  imminent  the 
danger  to  the  public  peace  that  in  February,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Frank  P.  Blair,  it  was  determined  to  meet  force  with 
force,  and  steps  were  taken  to  organize  with  arms  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Union  men.  At  the  head  of  this  movement  was 
placed  a  Committee  of  Safety,  composed  of  Oliver  D.  Filley, 
then  Mayor  of  St.  Louis,  as  chairman,  James  O.  Broadhead, 
who  was  appointed  secretary,  Samuel  T.  Glover,  John  How 
and  J.  J.  Witzig.  This  committee,  in  co-operation  with  the 
military  authorities,  rendered  invaluable  services.  By  an  order 
issued  April  30,  1861,  by  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  upon  which  was  endorsed  the  written  approval 
of  President  Lincoln  and  General  Scott,  General  Nathaniel 
Lyon,  then  commanding  at  St.  Louis,  was  required  to  consult 
with  this  committee  in  reference  to  the  proclamation  of  martial 
law,  and  it  was  after  consultation  with  them  that  General  Lyon 
took  the  decisive  step  of  capturing  Camp  Jackson  on  May  10, 
1861,  thereby  securing  the  safety  of  the  St.  Louis  arsenal  and 
shattering  whatever  hopes  the  Confederate  authorities  may 
have  cherished  of  gaining  possession  of  the  city. 

The  State  Convention  assembled  at  Jefferson  City  on  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1861,  immediately  adjourning  to  St.  Louis,  where  it 
sat  until  March  22nd,  then  adjourning,  subject  to  the  call  of  a 
special  committee.  Of  that  body,  perhaps  the  ablest  and  most 
truly  representative  that  ever  assembled  in  this  State,  and 

93 


which  for  more  than  two  years  exercised  the  sovereign  power 
of  the  State  with  courage,  wisdom  and  moderation,  Mr.  Broad- 
head  was  one  of  the  most  influential  members,  at  all  times 
strongly  advocating  fearless  and  decisive  action.  At  its  second 
session,  in  July,  1861,  as  chairman  of  a  special  committee 
appointed  to  report  what  steps  the  convention  ought  to  take 
under  the  grave  conditions  then  existing,  he  reported  and 
powerfully  advocated  the  ordinance  vacating  the  offices  of 
Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  Secretary  of  State  and  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Assembly.  It  was  adopted,  as  were  all 
important  acts  of  the  convention,  by  a  clear  majority  of  the 
members  elect  ;  and  a  provisional  State  Government  was  at 
once  established  by  that  body,  of  which  Hamilton  R.  Gamble, 
eminent  as  a  jurist,  and  formerly  Chief  Justice  of  the  State, 
was  the  head. 

*In  May,  1861,  the  United  States  Reserve  Corps,  composed 
of  a  brigade  of  five  regiments  of  Missouri  three  months  volun- 
teers, wras  organized  by  order  of  General  Lyon  under  the  order 
of  April  30,  already  mentioned.  Captain  T.  W.  Sweeney,  of 
the  Second  United  States  Infantry,  was  assigned  to  its  command 
as  Brigadier  General  of  Volunteers,  and  Mr.  Broadhead  was 
appointed  on  his  staff  as  Brigade  Quartermaster  with  the  rank 
of  Major.  He  acted  for  some  time  in  that  capacity,  though 
never  regularly  mustered  into  the  service  as  such. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  United  States  District 
Attorney,  and  rendered  highly  important  service  to  the  gov- 
ernment in  unmasking  the  plans  of  the  deposed  secessionist 
Governor  Jackson  and  his  associates.  During  that  year  martial 
law  was  declared  in  Missouri,  and  in  June,  1863,  Colonel  Broad- 
head,  having  resigned  the  office  of  District  Attorney,  was  com- 
missioned Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  Missouri 
State  Militia,  and  assigned  to  the  staff  of  Major  General  John 


M.  Schofield,  then  in  command  of  the  Department  of  Missouri, 
by  whom  he  was  appointed  Provost  Marshal  General  of  that 
Department,  which  embraced  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Kansas,  the 
Indian  Territory  and  the  southern  part  of  Iowa.  He  fulfilled 
the  duties  of  that  office  until  February  6,  1864,  when  his 
military  services  terminated.  The  mingled  firmness  and  gentle- 
ness with  which  he  exercised  its  powers  in  the  interest  of  public 
order  and  safety  is  gratefully  remembered  and  acknowledged 
by  those  whom,  in  those  troubled  times,  he  found  it  necessary 
to  restrain. 

After  the  Civil  war  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  St.  Ivouis,  with  increased  reputation  and  success, 
appearing  in  numerous  cases  of  great  importance  in  both  State 
and  Federal  Courts,  and  remained  in  more  or  less  active  practice 
until  near  the  close  of  his  long  and  useful  life.  In  1875  he 
served  as  a  delegate  to  the  convention  which  framed  and  sub- 
mitted the  present  Constitution  of  Missouri,  of  which  body  he 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  members.  In 
1876  he  was  retained  as  special  counsel  for  the  United  States 
in  the  famous  prosecution  which  broke  up  the  so-called  "Whis- 
key Ring."  In  1878  he  was  elected  President  of  the  American 
Bar  Association. 

In  1882  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  St.  Louis, 
and  served  with  distinction  on  the  Judiciary  Committee  of 
the  House  during  his  term,  declining  a  renomination.  In 
1885  President  Cleveland  appointed  him  Special  Commissioner 
to  make  examination  with  reference  to  French  Spoliation 
Claims,  and  in  that  capacity  he  spent  several  months  in  France 
examining  the  government  archives,  and  upon  his  report 
Congress  took  the  first  action  towards  providing  for  the  pay- 
ment of  these  claims,  which  had  been  unsuccessfully  urged 
upon  it  for  nearly  a  century. 


In  April,  1893,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland 
United  States  Minister  to  Switzerland,  which  office  he  resigned 
in  November,  1895,  and  upon  his  return  to  St.  Louis  accepted 
the  professorship  of  International  Law  in  the  Law  Department 
of  Washington  University,  fulfilling  its  duties  until  his  health 
failed  within  the  past  year. 

The  closing  years  of  his  life  were  peacefully  spent  at  his 
home  in  St.  Louis,  in  the  bosom  of  a  devoted  family,  and  were 
abundantly  blessed  by  — 

"That  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends. ' ' 

His  departure  from  the  scene  of  his  earthly  labors  called 
forth  throughout  this  commonwealth  a  universal  tribute,  such 
as  few  men  receive,  of  regretful  and  affectionate  admiration. 

In  that  heartfelt  tribute  the  members  of  this  Commandery 
unite,  recalling  and  honoring  the  public  services  he  rendered 
and  the  noble  qualities  he  displayed  in  those  times  that  tried 
men's  souls  —  the  courage  which  no  danger  could  daunt,  the 
intellectual  power  which  commanded  respect  and  achieved  well 
merited  distinction,  the  lofty  patriotism  and  the  high  sense  of 
duty  which  controlled  his  actions,  all  of  them  adorned  by  a 
gentle  and  childlike  simplicity  of  character  and  demeanor  which 
made  him  universally  beloved. 

HENRY  HITCHCOCK, 
WELLS  H.  BLODGETT, 
D.  P.  DYER. 


MEMORIAL  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  SOCIETY. 

DECEMBER  13,  1898. 

RT  a  meeting  of  the  Virginia  Society  on  Tuesday  evening, 
December  13,  1898,  the  following  memorial  was  adopted, 
and  the  secretary  was  requested  to  send  a  copy  of  the 
same  to  Mrs.  Broadhead. 

On  August  7,  1898,  the  Hon.  James  O.  Broadhead,  the 
first  president  of  the  Society,  departed  this  life.  In  appropri- 
ate forums  his  career  as  a  great  lawyer  and  statesman  has  been 
faithfully  and  eloquently  portrayed.  We  desire  briefly  to  refer 
to  his  life  as  it  touched  us. 

He  was  the  foremost  Virginian  living  in  Missouri  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  had  inherited  and  throughout  his  life 
he  stood  for  the  best  traditions  of  his  native  State.  Born  in 
the  county  of  Albemarle,  in  1819,  he  had  seen  and  talked  with 
some  of  the  great  Virginians  who  founded  the  Republic. 
Breathing  an  atmosphere  laden  with  the  influence  of  their 
lives,  he  was  deeply  affected  thereby,  for  patriotism  was  one  of 
his  marked  characteristics. 

For  fifty  years  he  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  political 
and  professional  life  of  Missouri,  but  though  honors  came  to 
him  thick  and  fast  they  never  marred  the  rare  simplicity  of  his 
character,  which  gave  such  a  fascination  to  his  personality  and 
made  him  in  all  his  associations  the  highest  type  of  the  old 
fashioned  Virginia  gentleman. 


Though  always  loyal  to  Missouri  and  St.  L,ouis,  he  mani- 
fested a  deep  and  never  failing  love  for  his  native  State.  The 
lapse  of  years  and  the  struggles  of  a  life,  busy  beyond  ordinary 
capacities,  never  effaced  from  his  mind  the  tender  memories  of 
youthful  friends  and  scenes.  This  he  feelingly  expressed  in  a 
speech  he  delivered  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  in  which  he 
said,  "And  now  in  conclusion  let  me  say,  and  you  will  pardon 
me  for  saying  it,  that  this  occasion  possesses  peculiar  interest 
to  me,  for  here  in  the  midst  of  these  historic  associations  my 
untra veiled  heart  fondly  returns  to  my  native  home,  where  the 
blue  mountains  and  green  fields  first  met  my  infant  vision. 
From  my  far  off  wanderings  in  the  distant  West  I  come,  before 
the  shadows  of  the  evening  have  closed  around  me,  to  renew 
my  devotions  to  the  land  that  gave  me  birth."  This  feeling 
grew  with  years,  and  he  was  fond  of  conversing  with  those 
who  were  familiar  therewith,  about  the  scenes  and  history  of 
Virginia.  Though  of  strong,  robust  character,  one  who  proved 
himself  truly  great  in  momentous  issues,  vitally  affecting  the 
country,  he  was  so  sweet  tempered,  so  gentle  and  even  childlike 
in  his  nature,  that  his  friends  loved  to  be  with  him  and  felt 
enobled  by  the  association.  He  was  kind,  generous  to  a  fault, 
chivalrous  in  action  ' '  and  even  in  his  right  hand  he  carried 
gentle  peace  to  silence  envious  tongues."  'The  death  of  such 
a  man,  who  for  more  than  half  a  century  was  a  vital  force  in 
the  State,  is  always  a  severe  blow.  And  we  are  especially  sad- 
dened by  the  reflection  that  it  removes  from  our  midst  a  type 
of  the  statesman  and  citizen  that  made  Virginia  for  so  many 
years  the  dominating  spirit  of  the  Union. 

A  few  years  more  and  there  will  be  none  to  tell  us  as  he 
could,  of  the  sound  of  their  voices  and  the  look  of  their  faces, 
for  he  was  one  of  the  last  links  that  bound  us  to  the  fathers  of 
the  Republic. 


The  members  of  this  society  will  cherish  his  memory  as  a 
precious  heritage,  for  his  life  blossomed  with  those  virtues  which 
have  been  the  best  rewards  to  that  noble  array  of  Virginians, 
whose  lives  in  peace  and  in  war  have  shed  undying  lustre  upon 
their  country.  Great  as  is  our  loss  it  is  but  small  compared 
with  the  shadow  cast  over  his  home,  and  to  his  family  we 
tender  our  sincere  sympathy. 


MEMORIAL  OF  THE  AMERICAN  BAR 
ASSOCIATION. 

IN  the  death  of  Colonel  James  Overtoil  Broadhead,  which 
occurred  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  August  7,  1898,  the 
country  has  lost  one  of  those  highly  gifted  lawyers  who 
have  given  strength,  character  and  influence  to  the  American 
bar  during  the  last  fifty  years,  and  a  man  whose  intellectual 
activity  expanded  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  ordinary  pro- 
fessional practice  into  the  broader  fields  of  statesmanship, 
international  law  and  foreign  relations.  He  was  a  man  of 
extraordinary  capacity. 

As  the  first  president  of  this  Association  it  is  eminently 
fit  that  a  brief  resume  of  his  career  should  be  preserved  in  its 
records. 

James  Overton  Broadhead  was  born  May  29,  1819,  in 
Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  and  was  educated  in  the  Albe- 
marle  High  School  and  the  University  of  Virginia.  While  he 
was  quite  a  young  man  his  parents  moved  to  Missouri,  where  he 
studied  law  with  Edward  Bates,  who  was  afterwards  Attorney 
General  under  President  Lincoln.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  Bowling  Green,  Mo.,  in  1842,  and  after  practicing  in  Pike 
County  and  northeast  Missouri  for  some  years  he  moved  to  the 
City  of  St.  Louis,  where  he  rapidly  became  identified  with  the 
most  important  litigation  of  that  commercial  center.  In  the 
course  of  time  Col.  Broadhead  became  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word  a  leader,  not  only  of  the  bar  of  St.  Louis,  but  of  the 
West,  and  as  such  he  enjoyed  a  national  reputation.  During 


his  professional  career  Col.  Broadhead  was  a  member  of  two 
Constitutional  Conventions  (1845  and  1875).  This  experience, 
together  with  a  remarkable  adaptation  to  the  consideration  of 
broad  fundamental  questions  which  he  grasped  and  handled 
with  masterly  vigor  and  discernment,  brought  him  into  great 
prominence  as  a  constitutional  lawyer,  and  his  opinions  and 
arguments  on  constitutional  and  kindred  questions  of  public 
law  became  a  prominent  feature  in  the  judicial  history  of  his 
State.  The  cases  in  which  he  was  engaged  during  his  pro- 
fessional career  embraced  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  some  of 
them  being  of  national  prominence,  as  for  instance,  the '  'Express 
Company"  cases,  the  "Mormon  Church"  case,  and  the  famous 
'  'Whisky  Ring' '  cases,  in  which  he  was  retained  as  special  coun- 
sel for  the  government.  Strong  at  all  times  and  in  whatever  he 
undertook,  it  was  when  thoroughly  areused  in  a  case  of  import- 
ance that  his  oral  arguments  were  so  convincing  in  their 
reasoning  and  so  powerful  in  their  expression  as  to  remind  one 
of  the  great  names  which  have  graced  forensic  oratory  in  the 
history  of  the  English  and  American  bar. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  much  of  his  professional  success 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  every  tribunal  before  which  he 
appeared  became  immediately  impressed  with  his  perfect  candor 
and  honesty.  His  face,  his  manner,  his  whole  bearing  through- 
out the  case  carried  conviction  of  his  single-minded  purpose  to 
present  the  issues  with  absolute  fairness  ;  that  he  came  before 
the  court  with  profound  convictions  and  with  the  intention  of 
performing  the  most  exalted  function  of  the  lawyer  by  aiding 
the  court  in  sifting  out  the  very  truth  and  justice  of  the  matter 
in  dispute. 

When  the  Civil  war  broke  out  Col.  Broadhead  took  a 
prominent  and  patriotic  part  in  guiding  and  counseling  the 
civil  and  military  movements  in  Missouri  in  the  interests  of  the 


102 


Union  and  in  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. Recognizing  his  superior  judgment  and  discretion  the 
government  appointed  him  to  the  responsible  position  of  Pro- 
vost Marshall  General  of  a  department  composed  of  Missouri, 
southern  Iowa,  Kansas,  Indian  Territory  and  Arkansas.  He 
was  also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  which 
aided  in  organizing  troops  for  the  Union  army  under  special 
orders  from  the  War  Department.  At  the  close  of  the  war  Col. 
Broadhead  resumed  his  law  practice.  In  1878  he  was  elected 
the  first  President  of  the  American  Bar  Association.  In  1882 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  serving 
with  distinction  on  the  Judiciary  Cjmmittee  of  the  House  dur- 
ing his  term.  In  1885  President  Cleveland  appointed  him 
Special  Commissioner  to  visit  France  and  to  make  an  examina- 
tion with  reference  to  the  French  Spoliation  Claims,  in 
pursuance  of  which  duty  he  spent  several  months  in  France 
examining  the  government  archives,  and  upon  his  report  Con- 
gress took  the  first  action  toward  making  provision  for  pay- 
ment to  the  descendants  of  those  whose  claims  had  been  so 
long  ignored.  In  1893  President  Cleveland  showed  his  appre- 
ciation of  Col.  Broadhead's  ability  as  a  statesman  and  diplo- 
matist by  appointing  him  Minister  to  Switzerland,  a  position 
he  held  for  about  three  years,  when  he  resigned  and  returned 
to  St.  Louis.  During  this  period  he  settled  a  number  of 
intricate  questions  of  international  law  involving  the  interests 
of  the  United  States  and  citizens  thereof.  After  his  return 
from  Switzerland  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Chair  of  International 
Law  in  the  St.  Louis  Law  School,  for  which  position  his  studies 
and  experience  while  abroad  so  eminently  qualified  him,  and 
he  occupied  that  position  until  his  death. 

Col.  Broadhead  was  a  patriotic  citizen,  a  great  lawyer  and 
a  lovable  man  in  all  the  relations  of  life.     He  probably  had 


more  personal  friends,  warmly  attached  to  him,  than  any  one 
public  man  in  his  State. 

In  conclusion,  let  it  be  remembered  that  there  is  one 
quality  necessary  to  true  worth  which  Col.  James  O.  Broad- 
head  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  integrity  of  character 
which  makes  the  good  citizen  and  which  makes  the  truly  great 
lawyer,  and  this  brief  sketch  is  best  ended  by  quoting  his  own 
words  used  in  a  public  address,  as  follows  :  ' '  No  man  with- 
out an  upright  mind,  and  no  man  who  has  not  preserved  his 
integrity,  has  ever  died  leaving  the  reputation  of  a  great 
lawyer. ' ' 

The  memorial  adopted  by  the  Bar  of  St.  Louis  adds  the 
following  to  the  foregoing  quotation  :  "To  this  standard  his 
own  life  was  adjusted,  and  the  reputation  he  leaves  perfectly 
illustrates  the  truth  of  his  maxim." 


1(14 


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